• by Wayne Friedman , January 23, 2007

ESPN announced its major sponsors for its 11th Winter X Games in Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., January 25-28, with most of the same marketers returning to the popular event.

ESPN's top sponsors--so-called "Gold" sponsors--include Edge, Jeep, Mountain Dew, Navy, New Balance, Taco Bell and Schick. Associate sponsors are Sony's PlayStation, State Farm and Totino's, which is a new X Games sponsor.

ESPN's "X Center," a kind of riff on ESPN's popular "SportsCenter" anchor desk, has Jeep as its entitlement sponsor. New associate sponsors are Oakley and Under Armour.

As with other X Games marketing extensions, the sponsorship benefits include media package on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, EXPN.com and in ESPN The Magazine as well as on-site signage and hospitality opportunities.