X Games: Launching the Next Generation of Sports Leagues

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      "name": "Elizabeth Ellerhorst",
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      "details": "Elizabeth Ellerhorst is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Sports Practice, where she advises leading sports organizations at the intersection of sports and marketing strategy. She brings nearly 13 years of strategy consulting experience helping leagues, Olympic and Paralympic properties, and National Governing Bodies address their most complex business challenges and unlock new opportunities for growth.\r\r \r\rElizabeth specializes in translating fan and stakeholder insights into differentiated engagement strategies and sustainable revenue models in sports. Her work focuses on helping sports organizations deepen their connection and engagement with fans, modernize their commercial approach, and drive long-term value through data-driven decision-making.  She also is helping to shape Deloitte’s perspective on Fandom across sports and music.\r\r \r\rShe is also a leader in Deloitte’s women’s sports initiatives, playing a key role in advancing the firm’s Athena Pledge and broader efforts to accelerate investment and visibility in women’s sports.  ",
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      "details": "Annie Lokesh (“low-kesh”) is a Senior Vice President at X Games where she oversees League Strategy & Operations, leading the launch of the world’s first year-round, team-based, co-ed professional action sports league in 2026. Since stepping into the role in March 2025, she has architected the league’s operating structure, club ecosystem, athlete contract model, and governance framework—transforming X Games from an event-based property into a scalable, regionally based league platform. She designed XGL’s inaugural eight-city Club model to drive year-round fan engagement, localized partnerships, and long-term franchise value.\r\rCentral to Annie’s strategy is an athlete-first economic system that introduces guaranteed base compensation in action sports for the first time, alongside expanded commercial pathways through endorsements and partnerships. By professionalizing athlete services and aligning incentives across athletes, teams, and the league, she has created structural stability designed to scale globally.\r\rPrior to joining X Games, she was recruited directly from Deloitte by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, where she helped guide the league’s transformation via a $75 million capital raise, supported media rights strategy, expanded executive leadership infrastructure, and strengthened league-wide operations during a period of historic growth. Annie began her career as a top-performing Senior Consultant at Deloitte and was nationally selected for the firm’s\rManager Development Program. Across her career, she has been trusted to build modern sports institutions that center athletes while creating durable enterprise value.\r\rShe was recently named to the 2026 Adweek Most Powerful Women in Sports list. She spends her free time in Boston teaching pilates and as a mentor in Women in Sports and Entertainment.",
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      "details": "Bob Burnquist is a 30-time X Games medalist and General Manager of X Games Club São Paulo in the MoonPay X Games League. A competitor in the inaugural 1995 X Games, he has helped shape the evolution of action sports from counterculture to global enterprise for more than three decades.\r\rHe previously served as President of the Brazilian Confederation of Skateboarding during the sport’s transition into the Olympic era, gaining firsthand experience in governance and institutional design.\r\rToday, as a GM and founder, Bob focuses on building sustainable, city-based sports ecosystems where athlete equity, media ownership, and long-term franchise value are engineered from inception.\r\rHe is also the founder and CEO of Farmaleaf, an AI-driven wellness platform that integrates data intelligence, privacy-first Web3 infrastructure, and emerging technologies to expand digital ownership and reshape the economics of modern sports and creator empowerment.",
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