When superstar snowboarder Shaun White announced his retirement in 2022, he had amassed three Olympic golds, 23 X Games medals, and a fortune unheard of for most action sports athletes. His latest follow-up trick: providing up-and-coming riders with a launchpad to similar success.

Debuting at Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain next month, the Snow League is a four-event, yearlong series that will travel to different resorts around the world. The inaugural season runs through the winter of 2026 and boasts a combined prize purse of $1.5 million—half a million more than the X Games and an all-time high for snowsports. And with the heightened visibility of live, ticketed events that will air on Peacock and NBC, the league aims to bring major sponsorship opportunities to athletes, many of whom struggle to make a living solely on competition earnings.

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Shaun White
Shaun White. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Fanatics

“It’s a game changer,” says Telluride-based Olympic snowboarder Lucas Foster, who is among the 36 riders invited to compete in the Snow League’s first year. “The pathway to being a pro contest rider is very, very limited. There’s not much room to do anything but try to go to the Olympics. Now we finally have an actual series with structure and big prize money, like the World Surf League. It’ll be a lot easier for fans to follow and for companies to buy into.”

Since 1994, elite halfpipe snowboarders have had just one (low-paying) seasonlong series to participate in: the Snowboard World Cup, operated by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Though there are plenty of competitions sprinkled throughout the year, such as the X Games, they are one-off events that lack the stature and fan base of organized associations like the NFL or NBA. “I think a lot of us contest riders feel pretty stagnant doing the same schedule every year,” Foster says, noting that the Snow League’s novel head-to-head format will provide a platform for riders to get creative in their craft.

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Here’s how it works: At each Snow League event, 36 riders (the top 20 men and 16 women in the world) will compete in qualifying heats, followed by men’s and women’s head-to-head matchups to determine the victors. Riders will accrue points based on their performance at each stop; at the end of the series, the league will crown overall male and female champions. “I think the level [of tricks] will move away from more flips and spins to increasing overall longevity throughout the weekend of the contest,” Foster says. “We’re going to be taking hundreds of runs. You won’t be able to just do the same things again and again. It’ll be a whole new experience that we’re all craving.”

For White, the Snow League is an opportunity to bring the prestige of, say, winning the Super Bowl or the World Series to his sport—and to motivate the next generation of talent. The next Shaun Whites are already out there, he says: “We’re giving them a space to be discovered, and we’re hoping to inspire many more.”

Snow League heads to Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain March 7 to 8. Tickets are available at thesnowleague.com. Admission is free on Qualifying Day (March 7) if booked online in advance; Finals Day (March 8) starts at $25 for Colorado residents, $50 for general admission. All events will air live on Peacock, with encores on NBC Sports.