The Maloof family is famous for owning the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the ultra-hip Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Now Joe and Gavin Maloof are challenging ESPN's X Games franchise with the world's richest skateboard-only event.

Two years in the planning, the three-day, six-event Maloof Money Cup is scheduled for July 11-13 in Orange County, Calif., perhaps the hottest hotbed of skating in the nation.

The Money Cup is aptly named: the Maloofs are offering $450,000 in prize money.

The event has been recognized as the national championship by World Cup Skateboarding.

"We're stoked to see that kind of money coming into skateboarding," World Cup President Don Bostick told TransWorld Skateboarding magazine. "We were a little leery at first, but as our discussions progressed we saw it as an opportunity for skateboarders to really have a chance to go big."

The Maloofs got into skateboarding through basketball. They started a basketball camp six years ago, then expanded it to other sports, including skateboarding, when they saw that interest in traditional stick-and-ball sports was lagging. Then they noticed new skate parks going up around their Palms resort, so they figured the time was ripe for something big and new in the sport.

"There are a couple parks right by the Palms Casino," Joe Maloof said in an interview posted Tuesday on the TransWorld Skateboarding website. "They're always busy, and sometimes I go and talk to the skaters. They give me ideas, tell me about the music they like and that type of thing."

The Maloofs talked with a lot of pro skaters and decided that the biggest events, such as ESPN's X Games and the Dew Tour, were making a lot of money but weren't paying out as much prize money as the skaters thought they deserved for competing in their physically demanding sport.

"I wanted this to be different from the X Games — skateboarding only," Joe Maloof said. "I wanted to attract the best talent with the largest purse ever.

"I checked all the major skate competitions around the world to see what the different purses were, and I said, 'Let's do this right.' This is going to be the best of the best at one place. So if we're going to attract the best, we better pay like we mean it. It's close to $450,000 total."

The X Games have seen many rivals come and go, but the big kahuna is showing some respect for the Maloofs and their Money Cup.

"For 14 years, our prize purses have been the watermark for the entire industry and we are proud of what we've been able to provide the athletes," X Games general manager Chris Stiepock told USA TODAY.

"Over the past decade, no entity has paid more money to athletes in the form of prize purses than ESPN. It's great that the Maloofs have decided to devote resources to action sports. A rising tide lifts all boats, and the more exposure given to action sports, the more we all benefit."

In turn, Joe Maloof is humble.

"We're going to learn a lot the first time around, and one good thing about the Maloofs is that we listen," he told TransWorld Skateboarding. "We're not know-it-alls. We respect the sport, and we respect the lifestyle."