The winter X Games are returning to Aspen this month under new ownership. From the picture recently painted by one representative, changes beyond that will be minimal.

“Behind the scenes it’s the exact same, we’re all the same people,” marketing specialist Valerie Ryan said at a Pitkin County commissioners meeting, counting herself among those people.

She long worked with ESPN helping to organize the widely spectated competition that for 20-plus years has convened air-seeking skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers. Now for the three-day event starting Jan. 27, Ryan has been working with Sports Content Creation, which for the first time has collaborated with Aspen Skiing Co. to put on the show at Buttermilk.

“Kind of business as usual for us,” Ryan told commissioners.

That was while recognizing the new operators under the parent company MSP Sports Capital. With stakes in Formula One Racing and international soccer teams, the New York private equity firm in October bought majority ownership of the X Games from ESPN.

The network will continue to broadcast the action, as it has since the 1990s. The scene will be only slightly different, commissioners were told.

Most notable: the big concerts at night will be swapped with smaller ones throughout the day.

“They’re gonna develop the Panda Hill area as this open, free-flowing family area where concerts will be held in between competition,” said Allen Domingos, who has reviewed plans as Pitkin County’s special events coordinator.

X Games spectators will be limited to 15,000 at any time, Domingos said. From a public safety standpoint, plans from new owners present “more or less a layup,” said county Sheriff Joe DiSalvo.

“I must say, in the first few years, it was a ‘S’ show,” he said. “We were overwhelmed by 100,000 people in three or four days. We haven’t seen crowds that size in a while.”

While locals would be wary of that kind of show returning, Ryan said the new owners have ambitions to restore some of the X Games’ former glory.

“It’s about finding enhancements and bringing X Games back to what it used be,” she said.

Previously combined, the slopestyle, big air and knuckle huck competitions will now be separated across three venues, Ryan said.

“We also have the viewing deck on the superpipe back in play for fans to kind of get up close to the action,” she said.

Snowmobiles, which were cut from the field several years ago, will not be back in play. Would they ever? asked one county commissioner.

“That is in the works, those conversations are happening,” Ryan said.