X Games Ventura 2026: the contest is gone — and what replaced it is already bigger

You searched "X Games Ventura 2026" and got nothing that made sense? Makes sense. The contest that rocked the Ventura County Fairgrounds in 2023 and 2024 doesn't exist in that form anymore. In 2026 the whole format changed name, rules and calendar — and the part that actually matters this week is happening 9,000 km from California, in Japan.

What's really at stake is an overall standings battle between four clubs across three stops before a sold-out final. Every run now counts twice: for the rider and for their club. Ema Kawakami, basically unknown a month ago, is already leading the pack — and one bad run in Chiba can cost an entire city its lead. That's the new suspense.

The truth about "X Games Ventura 2026"

Ventura was real. Two editions, 2023 and 2024, with Skateboard Street, Skateboard Park and Big Air in front of tens of thousands of fans on the California coast. Then X Games moved: Sacramento in 2025 to celebrate the 30th anniversary, the last "old school" edition — one winner per discipline, a podium, done.

2026 broke the mold. As Forbes reports, the MoonPay X Games League (XGL) simply replaces the old solo contests. No more "one athlete, one medal" — now it's four franchises battling over a full season. We already covered this at the March 12, 2026 draft, when 40 riders got split between cities. Ventura simply doesn't have a spot on this new map. No drama, no scandal — just a different business model that picked packed arenas in New Orleans and Chiba over open-air bleachers.

Who to watch this week in Chiba

Five names to follow across the 15 events scheduled in Japan. Some are defending a lead, others are defending their credibility after a shaky first stop.

• Ema KawakamiSurprise champion

  Gold in Skateboard Vert at Sacramento (93.66) — defends her leader jersey in front of a home crowd.

• Chloe Covell1st draft pick

  XC New York — 16 years old and already the skater everyone fears.

• Gui KhuryXXL talent

  XC São Paulo — silver at Sacramento (92.66), 0.66 point off the top.

• Arisa TrewOlympic champion

  XC Tokyo — the club already leading the overall standings after stop 1.

• Jagger EatonCircuit legend

  Fresh off winning Tampa Pro 2026 — the kind of name that can flip an entire stop on his own.

On site, this doesn't look like an old-school contest with judges in polos and a quiet crowd anymore. XGL turns every stop into a mini-festival: DJ sets, concerts, immersive fan zones, giant screens flashing live scores. The noise never stops between runs — built for a crowd that films as much as it watches, and leaves with a clip to post before they're even home.

July 4-5 at Makuhari Messe: this week's real program

Season stop 2 takes place at Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, right next to Tokyo. Fifteen events on the program over two days of competition — Skateboard, BMX and Moto X — after a practice day reserved for riders on July 3. It's the league's first stop in Asia, and the point gap between XC Tokyo and the rest of the field is about to widen or collapse in front of a home crowd for half the field.

The format that changed everything: no more a contest, a league

Four clubs — XC Los Angeles, XC New York, XC São Paulo, XC Tokyo — fight for an overall standing across the whole season. Each team fields men and women riders scoring points together, on the same board. A blown run no longer just hurts one skater: it drags an entire city down the rankings. That shift in logic, more than the geography, explains why Ventura no longer has a spot on the calendar — the team model needs big arenas, not open-air bleachers.

The full 2026 season calendar

Stop 1 — Sacramento (June 26-29), Cal Expo. Ema Kawakami pulled off the surprise in Skateboard Vert, ahead of Gui Khury and Japan's Moto Shibata. Club standings after day one: XC Tokyo on top (1,450 points), ahead of XC New York (1,310), XC São Paulo (1,300) and XC Los Angeles (1,150). A gap that can flip in two or three runs — nothing's settled.

Stop 2 — Chiba (July 4-5), Makuhari Messe. This is it. The stop that can confirm or flip the hierarchy born in Sacramento.

Grand final — New Orleans (July 24-26), Caesars Superdome. BMX Street, BMX Park, BMX Dirt, Skateboard Street, Skateboard Vert, Skateboard Park and Moto X all run over three days to crown the first-ever XGL champion. First trophy across the board, inside a 70,000-seat covered stadium built for America's biggest sporting events.

Ema Kawakami, Sacramento's surprise, needs to back it up in Chiba

Nobody saw her beating Gui Khury coming. A 93.66 on the Sacramento ramp, and a lead she never gave up after her first run. In Chiba, she skates in front of a home crowd — the perfect place to turn a one-off into a real reputation, or the place where the pressure breaks everything. XGL loves this kind of story: an unknown defending a title she just won, with an entire city behind her.

Does the team-league format make you want to follow this more than the old solo contest — or does it break something you loved about skating? Tell us in the comments ↓

Want to dig into the draft that launched the XGL or follow the other major skate contests, we cover all of it on nosk8.com.