DETROIT, MI - A "vociferous" campaign by Detroit bid organizers has helped land the Motor City among four finalists in the running to host three years of ESPN's Summer X Games beginning in 2014, ESPN announced Tuesday.

It joins Chicago, Austin, Texas and Charlotte, N.C.

"Detroit has been the most vociferous in its desire to host the games, at least on social media," ESPN said in a statement. "The committee representing the Detroit bid has started a Facebook and Twitter campaign and a website encouraging people to sign up to 'join the movement.' Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans and the Cleveland Cavaliers, has recently added his support to the committee headed up by Kevin Krease and Garret Kohler. Charlotte has mounted a public campaign as well with a Facebook and a LinkedIn page."

ESPN announced in December that Detroit had a qualified bid for three consecutive years of the Summer X Games, as the sports network also announced that the games, traditionally based in Los Angeles, were being opened up to a new host site for its 2014, 2015 and 2016 installments – a three-year commitment for the four-day event.

Detroit was then named in January as one of 17 cities in consideration for hosting the X Games, which feature action sports like skateboarding and Motocross. The final choice is expected to be announced Aug. 1.

Other cities originally in the running included Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Fort Worth, Long Beach, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Orleans, Pasadena and Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, X Games Detroit bid organizers hosted a free party at Eastern Market, where their original pitch video to ESPN debuted (it can be seen below).

That effort helped raise $26,000 towards construction of a Corktown skate park, while also adding more footage to their bid reel.

The next phase for bid organizers will be to woo ESPN officials who come to survey the city in May or June.

"The goal of the site visit is to give ESPN the most authentic feel of what the X Games would be like in Detroit," Krease, a 27-year-old Detroit native that's part of Action Sports Detroit LLC, a group supporting the bid process, told MLive earlier this month. "Our motto is to 'make it so ESPN can't say no.' Want to make this opportunity so attractive that they can't walk away from it."

MLive reporter Eric Lacy contributed to this report

X Games Detroit TRAILER from XGamesDetroit on Vimeo.