ESPN's X Games likely coming to Minneapolis in 2017 and 2018

Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium will host a "major sporting event" to be announced in Minneapolis Wednesday morning.

The speculation is that the event will be ESPN's X Games, the summer version, in both 2017 and 2018.

As reported in May, Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium operator SMG submitted a bid to bring the X Games to Minnesota in each of the next two summers.

Scott Romane, executive director of Sports Minneapolis, an arm of the city's convention bureau, said earlier that the winning bid likely would be announced by July.

This year's X Games were in Austin, Texas, in June.

The event, featuring skateboarding, BMX and Moto X competitions, targets millennials, an age group Romane said the city is "very eager to attract."

Some 200 athletes participate in the games, with more expected for exhibition events that could include activities on the nearby Mississippi River, Romane said.

The events would take place inside the stadium and on the adjacent park.

The winning bid will host the event in both of the next two years. Romane said about 45,000 people attended the games each day in Austin last year. He estimated the economic impact on the region to be about $100 million each year, although that's not a guarantee.

The 2017 games will be July 13-16. The dates in 2018 are July 19-22.

U.S. Bank Stadium already won bids to host the 2018 Super Bowl and the 2019 Final Four.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747