With Street League Skateboarding‘s Championship Tour kicking off this Saturday, April 29^th in Chicago, USA, SLS has announced more details regarding the next evolution of the sport’s premier annual competition. After returning to arenas in 2022 for the first time in two years, SLS is back indoors with an expanded global footprint: the trio of stops revealed to date – Chicago, Tokyo and Sydney – will be held on three continents, with the location of the SLS Super Crown World Championship still to-be-announced.

Once again, SLS will feature a collection of the world’s best – male and female – in street skateboarding. They will face off for a combined total of $250,000 USD in prize money at each tour stop, split equally between both genders. For the 2023 tour launch in Chicago, 27 elite skaters will compete, including 12 Olympians and the full podiums from Tokyo 2020.

The 2023 Championship Tour will also debut the portfolio-wide broadcast partnership between Thrill One Sports and Entertainment, SLS’ parent company, and Rumble, the leading platform for live-streaming action sports. Fans around the world will now be able to watch every moment of exciting SLS competition live, and all for free.

Outside the broadcast space, Nissin Food’s Cup Noodles is introduced as the presenting partner for this weekend’s Chicago launch, the brand’s first partnership with a sports league. Gel Blaster is another new addition and will partner across the tour. Accelerator Active Energy, Cariuma, Casio’s G-SHOCK Tech Deck and True Skate return as tour partners for 2023 as well.

SLS is also creating new fan engagement opportunities with the introduction of wagering which will be offered on DraftKings, Betfred, Stations Casino, and other U.S. Sportsbooks. This marks the first time that fans will be able to bet on skateboarding outside of the Olympics.

Saturday’s Chicago 2023 kickoff will feature reigning SLS Super Crown world champions Rayssa Leal (Imperatriz, Brazil) and Gustavo Ribeiro (Lisbon, Portugal). Both are Olympians as well, with Leal having taken silver at Tokyo. Leal also looks to continue her 2022 SLS winning streak after sweeping the series last year. At just 15 years old, she is already one of the most impactful female athletes in the world, with over 6.4 million Instagram followers.

They will face stiff competition, however. On the Men’s side, Nyjah Huston (Huntington Beach, USA), also an Olympian and, with six Super Crown World titles to date, the most decorated skater in SLS history, is primed to return to competition for the first time since a July injury. Ribeiro will also have to contend with all three medalists from Tokyo 2020: Yuto Horigome (Tokyo, Japan), Kelvin Hoefler (Guaruja, Brazil) and Jagger Eaton (Phoenix, USA).

On the Women’s side, Leal will compete against the rest of the podium from the Tokyo Olympics: Momiji Nishiya (Osaka, Japan) and Funa Nakayama (Toyama, Japan). Also, look out for fast-rising star Chloe Covell (Tweed Heads, Australia), a 12-year-old skate prodigy. She is the youngest skateboarder to win two X Games gold medals and is eyeing a spot on Australia’s Paris 2024 Olympic team.

This year’s SLS Championship Tour is dialing up the fan experience with an exciting reimagined one-day, winner-takes-all format featuring the very best of the best. This creates a more immediate, immersive and action-packed experience for fans. It also raises the stakes on course, since the first-place skater at each event will now not only earn direct qualification to the next SLS Tour stop final, but also secure their spot in the 2023 SLS Super Crown World Championship.

Joe Carr, CEO of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment – SLS’ parent company – said: “We are thrilled to kick off the 2023 Championship Tour in Chicago and look forward to bringing SLS to new markets like Tokyo and Sydney this year. All are a world-class cities and home to some of the biggest events on the sports calendar. Street League continues to expand outside the arena as well, with our Rumble streaming partnership making it easier than ever for fans across the globe to watch the world’s best skaters.  The strong commitment from our commercial partners has elevated this dynamic sport and reinvest in the league.”

Street League’s 2022 return to arenas brought back the enhanced excitement and stature SLS introduced to the sport over a decade ago. After stops in Jacksonville, Seattle and Las Vegas, the competition built to the Super Crown World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, which drew over 11,000 fans across two sold-out days and was seen live by over 14 million viewers worldwide, making it the most-watched street skateboarding event in history outside of the Tokyo Olympics.

2023 SLS Championship Tour Schedule:

•    SLS Chicago presented by Cup Noodles
Saturday, April 29 (Wintrust Arena)

•    SLS Tokyo presented by Nikon
Saturday, August 12 (Ariake Arena)

•    SLS Sydney
Weekend of October 7 (Ken Rosewall Arena)

•    SLS Super Crown World Championship

Location and date coming soon

Confirmed Competitor Roster:

Gustavo Ribeiro (POR) Defending 2022 SLS Super Crown Champion		Rayssa Leal (BRA) Defending 2022 SLS Super Crown Champion
Jake Anderson (USA)	Chloe Covell (AUS)	Ryan Decenzo (CAN)	Jagger Eaton (USA)
Aureien Giraud (FRA)	Felipe Gustavo (BRA)	Braden Hoban (USA)	Kelvin Hoefler (BRA)
Yuto Horigome (JPN)	Nyjah Huston (USA)	Dashawn Jordan (USA)	Chris Joslin (USA)
Alex Midler (USA)	Filipe Mota (BRA)	Funa Nakayama (JPN)	Momiji Nishimura (JPN)
Yumeka Oda (JPN)	Luan Oliveira (BRA)	Torey Pudwill (USA)	Carlos Ribeiro (BRA)
Paul Rodriguez (USA)	Manny Santiago (PUR)	Mason Silva (USA)	Giovanni Vianna (BRA)
Roos Zwetsloot (NED)

 

*Subject to Change

For more Street League Skateboarding news, including the Championship Tour updates, broadcast information, and more, go to www.streetleague.com and follow Street League Skateboarding on Instagram and Facebook.

For SLS Chicago 2023 PR assets, including photos and video, go here.

ABOUT STREET LEAGUE SKATEBOARDING

Since its inception in 2010, Street League Skateboarding (SLS) has propelled street skateboarding from a collection of independent standalone events to a renowned global series. As pioneers of street skateboarding’s premium qualification system and competition format, SLS offers an amateur-to-professional pathway and creates thrilling live events across the globe. The SLS Championship Tour is recognized as the world’s premier professional street skateboarding competition. Events take place on custom-built, one-of-a-kind, SLS-certified plazas in major cities around the world, with the best in the sport competing for the highest stakes. For more information, visit StreetLeague.com.