Shaun White on Winter Sports Style, Hublot Watches, and Building Big With Snow League

Shaun White kept himself busy in the months and weeks leading up to the first stop in the new Snow League competition, which took place in Aspen on March 7 and 8. In fact, he was out there talking it up with such gusto—this project is his baby, after all—that our chat about it at the ski town’s outpost of the St. Regis isn’t even the first that touches on the topic.

But thanks to Snow League’s partnership with Hublot, which is the organization’s official watch and timekeeper, it’s by far our deepest dive yet. We get to the watch stuff, of course—he’s got the new Big Bang Meca-10 Aspen One on his wrist, which bears both notice and mention—but the events of the first day of competition are still fresh in White’s mind, and his excitement is palpable as we take a seat on the couch and he walks me through it.

“It’s just been this surreal dream that became reality,” he says. “You build it. You hope they come. And people came and they had a great experience.” Winter sports are a notoriously difficult way to make a living, he explains. Competitions are scattered, both in terms of time and location. Prize money is scant. And the technicalities of awarding points and naming winners can frustrate casual viewers.

White on day one of the competition, which coincided with some very event-appropriate snowfall in Aspen.

Snow League is designed to change all that. First off, there’s more money. “The biggest prize purse there’s been,” White says, and “equal pay, men and women. The format is also updated. Riders—snowboarders in Aspen, though free skiers will join at later locations—go head-to-head, best two out of three, and must drop in on both sides of the half-pipe, forcing them to vary their runs. The idea is to create something that fosters high-level competition and solid entertainment.

“So, there’s a lot that comes to play with it,” he says. “I’m excited for the drama, I’m excited for the athletes, and I’m really excited for people at home to watch and see this sport in a different way.”

Read on for a few (condensed and edited) highlights from our conversation, from White’s opening pep-talk to the Snow League athletes to his feelings on his first Hublot.

Big air on the final day of competition.

On rallying the troops

We gave them lockers with their name on it and their jersey hanging in the locker, and they just felt this ownership and this pride. Obviously, all of today was incredible. But there was this moment where we had all the athletes together and I got to give my Braveheart speech, like “Let’s go!” Because it’s not about me. It’s not about the event organizers or the resort. I told them, “It’s about you. You’re the athletes. You’re the star of the show and I’ve had a certain level of success in my career that I think is available for everyone in this room, and then some.”

On the vision for Snow League

I’m hoping that in the future, you’ll be toggling across the smart TV at home and it’s like, “Here’s the NHL, the NFL, the Snow League; let’s check in on it.” We are really trying to raise the bar from what other competitions are doing. We’re trying to make it exciting. But I think as much as we’re doing for the athletes, we really want to make it educational for the people at home. Because at home, if you don’t know the sport, it’s confusing. Well, what happened two runs ago? I thought that guy was doing great. I feel like the Olympics does a great job of talking, so we were telling our commentators, “Hit us with sports science. How fast are they going? How big is the half pipe? How many rotations were spun?” And the head-to-head format is understandable; it’s something people know.

I want the people that like the sport to have an easy, accessible place to go view it. And for the young man or woman that wants to become pro, I want a clear path to getting there. You don’t really have that in this sport right now. So my hope is that it comes to a place where someone says, “Yeah, I was an amateur, then pro-am, and then I went and joined the league.”

White with the Aspen winners, showing off his Hublot watch.

On his first Hublot watch

It’s amazing. It’s a little Aspen model here. I love the brand, the watch, but I love what it represents within the sport. We want this elevated experience. We want to show these athletes in a certain light. And I think the sponsors also carry weight in that space. So think about the person that would attend Aspen. It’s the Swiss businessmen, the Kardashians. It’s a very high-end situation going on here. So having a brand like this involved in our sport, it just makes it feel so much more elevated. And so really, when they called, I was so thrilled to partner with them and have them be a part of the league for our kickoff event.

On the evolution of winter sports fashion and culture

It feels like what happened with skateboarding, in a way. Supreme hit. Virgil was in the driver’s seat at Louis Vuitton, and there was this street and sport component in fashion. It really blew up. And now we’re seeing it cross over into winter sports. Prada has a winter line. My friend Lewis Hamilton has an amazing line with Dior. And Moncler is Moncler; I’m so thrilled to be collaborating with them. We’re having a really cool moment in the sport, in the fashion space, and in just the just culture of it all. It’s like, “Let’s go enjoy the mountain, the outdoors with friends, and then let’s celebrate. Let’s have an après moment.” And the fashion goes along with that. It’s definitely a lot different than when I started. I’m staying at the St. Regis. I used to be in a van.

White rocking some Snow League merch alongside his fiancee, Nina Dobrev.

On hitting the halfpipe

The big fear when you retire as an athlete is, “Well, what’s next?” I feel so fortunate that I’m doing so much in my life but also connected to the sport. I still love doing it. I went and rode today after the event. I was like, “Dude, we built the pipe. I’m going to get in there.” It feels good on many levels.