WINTER DEW TOUR TOYOTA CHAMPIONSHIP ARRIVES IN TAHOE FEB. 19-22 AT NORTHSTAR-AT-TAHOE RESORT, DEW CUP CHAMPIONS TO BE AWARDED IN EACH DISCIPLINE
Common at Verizon Wireless Music Stage on Friday
NEW YORK – February 18, 2009 – The third and final stop of the ‘08/09 Winter Dew Tour begins on Thursday, February 19 with the Toyota Championship at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort in Truckee, Calif.
Leading the series in the snowboard disciplines are top athletes Shaun White, (first in slopestyle and superpipe), Kelly Clark (superpipe) and Spencer O’Brien (slopestyle). White recently took home X Games gold in both disciplines and is looking to be the first Dew Tour athlete to be crowned Dew Cup champion on the Summer Dew Tour and Winter Dew Tour. Key contenders to compete in women’s snowboard slopestyle in Tahoe include recent X Games gold medalist Jenny Jones, and silver medalist O’Brien. In superpipe, X Games silver medalist Scotty Lago will join bronze medalist Mikkel Bang in their attempts to unseat White. Australian Torah Bright will be looking for her first Dew Tour win of the season in the superpipe.
On the freeski side, Tanner Hall and Justin Dorey are tied for first in the superpipe discipline, but recent X Games gold medalist Xavier Bertoni is bound to provide some stiff competition. In slopestyle, PK Hunder leads the field with overall points, but in Tahoe, freeskier TJ Schiller could pull anything out of his deep bag of tricks.
In addition to the competitions, the Winter Dew Tour will feature live musical performances and a daily Festival Village with interactive events, athlete autograph signings and games. Just one of many interactive booths, the Toyota Out of Bounds Mountain rises 30 feet above the crowds, and it will be buzzing with exciting contests and games, including a larger-than-life Plinko game, an FJ Key Challenge, Custom Bandana Shop and an opportunity for fans to take a souvenir Ski Patrol photo. Serving as a backdrop will be an oversized video wall featuring cool action sports footage and live feed from the competitions.
The schedule of events is as follows:
Thursday, February 19
11:00AM – 2:30PM Mens/Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Prelims
Noon – 1:30PM Men’s Freeski Superpipe Prelims
Friday, February 20
10:00AM – 12:30PM Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Prelims
2:00PM – 3:30PM Men’s/Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final
5:00PM – 7:00PM Concert in Festival Village – Common and Tweak Bird
Saturday, February 21
10:00AM – 1:00PM Men’s/Women’s Snowboard Superpipe prelims
11:30AM – 1:00PM Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Final
3:00PM – 3:30PM Women’s Freeski Slopestyle Exhibition
6:00PM – 7:30PM Men’s Freeski Superpipe Final
Sunday, February 22
11:00AM – 11:30AM Women’s Freeski Superpipe Exhibition
Noon – 3:00PM Men’s/Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Final
Hip hop star and two-time Grammy winner Common will headline the Verizon Wireless music stage on Friday, Feb. 20, and progressive/psych-rock band Tweak Bird will kick off the show. The bands will perform from 5-7 p.m. and all music from the Verizon Wireless music stage is free to the general public.
Common burst onto the hip-hop scene in 1992 with his debut album “Can I Borrow a Dollar” and hasn’t looked back. In 2006 his hit record “Be”, produced mostly by superstar rapper Kanye West, was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won the coveted honor for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the hit single “Southside” featuring West. Cannon, who is set to release his highly anticipated album “’09”, also boasts a burgeoning acting career. The Chicago native held significant roles in blockbuster films “Smokin’ Aces”, “Street Kings”, “American Gangster”, “Wanted”, and the upcoming “Terminator Salvation”.
Similar to the Dew Tour’s summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour is based on a cumulative points system as the top snow athletes battle it out for a piece of the $1.5 million prize purse and the chance to take home the Dew Cup at the conclusion of the season in February.
TV Schedule
NBC Saturday, Feb. 21 2:30pm-4:00pm EST SKI Slope Men Finals
NBC Sunday, Feb. 22 3:00pm-6:00pm EST SNB Pipe Women/ Men Finals
USA Network Friday, Feb. 20 Midnight-1:00am EST SNB Slope Women/ Men Finals
USA Network Saturday, Feb. 21 Midnight-1:00am EST SKI Pipe Men Finals
The complete 2008/09 Winter Dew Tour schedule is as follows:
Event Date Location
Stop 1 Dec. 18-21, 2008 Breckenridge, Colo.—Breckenridge Ski Resort
Stop 2 Jan. 8-11, 2009 West Dover, Vt.—Mount Snow Resort
Toyota Championship Feb. 19-22, 2009 Truckee, Calif.—Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort
Winter Dew Tour
The Winter Dew Tour consists of three major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, and a $1.5 million competitive purse. Each event features men and women’s snowboard (superpipe and slopestyle), and men’s freeskiing (superpipe and slopestyle). At season’s end, the overall point’s leaders in the six disciplines are crowned year-end champions and awarded the prestigious Dew Cup. As part of an Alli property, key lifestyle elements compliment the competitions at each Tour event including the Festival village, specialty competitions, and live cutting edge music. The Winter Dew Tour is broadcast live on NBC Sports with additional competition and lifestyle broadcasts on MTV, MTV2 and USA. The Winter Dew Tour is also distributed on Fuel TV, Universal HD, Rush HD, and internationally on Eurosport, Fox Australia, Extreme Channel and Allarco superchannel. Winter Dew Tour partners include Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); Toyota (event title sponsor). Associate partners include Ball Park, Nike 6.0, PlayStation®, Wendy’s, and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at www.allisports.com <http://67.100.97.98/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.allisports.com/> .
NBC Universal
NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates the No. 1 television network, the fastest-growing Spanish-language network, a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.
MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services – MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, LOGO, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.
