Super Bowl of action sports takes flying leap into Seattle

The sparse crowd sprinkled throughout the lower bowl at KeyArena hadn't seen this much high-flying since Shawn Kemp was throwing down dunks and rattling the rims almost a decade ago.

Still, Rick Bratman's enthusiasm was understandably muted.

Organizers warned the ASA Entertainment CEO that booking an event such as the LG Action Sports World Championships -- billed as the Super Bowl of action sports -- on Halloween night would be a tough draw.

Bratman, however, needed a venue after Dallas city officials told him in June he could no longer use Reunion Arena. He considered Charlotte, N.C.; Providence, R.I.; and Tampa, Fla., before settling on Seattle and making the first tour stop in the Northwest.

"We needed a place, and they needed a big sporting event after losing the Sonics," Bratman said. "This weekend was supposed to be opening night of the NBA season for them so in many ways, it was mutual need. The timing was perfect and the relationship is perfect."

Still, the first-day attendance of the three-day competition was disappointing as a crowd of 1,200 was on hand to witness 150 competitors from 20 countries competing for a world championship in six events, including skateboarding, BMX cycling and inline skating.

The upper bowl was curtained off and only 6,500 seats were made available. The arena's tight configuration forced organizers to squeeze the gigantic vertical ramps alongside the obstacle-course-like setup for the street competitions.

Despite the low turnout, Bratman believes the attendance will increase today and Sunday. He also expects to return to the Seattle area next year.

"We're excited to be here because this city has the energy and the vibe that coincides with our sport," Bratman said. "Action sports and music is such a huge part of the community here, and that's one of the main reasons why we chose Seattle.

"When we made the decision to move it here, it was based on a long-term plan. Our goal is to build a legacy event in the same way that Bumbershoot or Seafair [is]. We want this to become an important part of this community. It's just a matter of educating some of those who are not familiar with us with exactly who we are and what we do."

For starters, the world championships are a distant cousin to the wildly popular X Games.

Unlike other action sports events that are invitation-only tournaments, entry into the world championships is based on cumulative performances and rankings from the entire LG Action Sports season, leading up to the season-ending final event.

"The best way to describe it is, the X Games is like reality TV and this is more like a traditional tournament," BMX cyclist Chad Kagy said. "It's not a competition between the two. The same people who perform there perform here. Obviously, the publicity is different."

Even though CBS will televise these world championships in December, the X Games reap tremendous financial support and international distribution across mediums provided by partner ESPN. The sports' biggest names, retired skateboarder Tony Hawk and BMX champion Dave Mirra, still flock to the X Games and were noticeably absent this weekend in Seattle.

"We're trying to develop our niche and in my mind, Seattle could help us do that," Bratman said. "We can grow our sport here. But we'll have to wait to see how KeyArena works for us. It's much, much, much smaller than any other place that we've ever been in."

Note

• Brazilian Marco de Santi, 25, won the inline vert world championship Friday. Australian Shane Yost, 31, claimed the silver medal and Fabiola da Silva, 29, took the bronze. Da Silva was the only female among the 10 competitors.