MOVING FORWARD WITH ESPORTS

Esports are really starting to establish themselves on the global landscape, but it is fair to say that they are still in the infant stage. I would consider the parent stage to be reached when an esports event is televised globally, and a viewership the size of a football world cup final tunes in to watch. Perhaps if Ah Craaaap and thegod_rf are busting running an illegal cock fighting ring and the story makes the front page of The Washington Post. Point is, despite the early success of esports, it has a long, long way to go in terms of what can be achieved. Are we going about it in the right way? I'm not 100% certain that we are. We have a model, a template if you like, from which we can work. The entire history of regular sports sits before us, to examine and to use as a guide for growth. Having done some extensive reading and research on the matter, I think two key points are being missed. Tribalism and passion. We have established some form of tribalism with pro teams like Liquid and Sk Gaming etc. However, there isn't a single reason for anybody to support one of these teams with passion, and tribalism doesn't function without it. I have used a pic of Manchester United vs Manchester City. The point to which I am alluding lies in the names. Rivalry leads to passion, passion leads to tribalism, tribalism creates even more rivalry, and so the machine fuels itself, but the missing spark which ignites this self-propelling engine is regions. The people of Manchester support one of their local teams. The have an enemy which is also a local team. That is the spark. From this grew two of the biggest football teams in the world. Billion dollar industries with support bases all over the world, but it all began in little ol' Manchester about 150 years ago. The examples I used, Liquid and SK Gaming, do not have the benefit of the spark. They are not aligned to any region. So, Bob might watch SK in CRL because he really likes Morten's haircut, but he has no genuine passion for the team. I had some passion for Immortals. I rode through their games and wanted them to win. I felt sad when they lost. This stemmed from watching AC's streams and having him coach Lil' Gramps. There was a connection, just as regional teams create a connection with their local fans. I think we need to explore this rather than just having random orgs form with no connection to anybody. I cannot see a future in this. I once said a bit of beef, some toxicity, would be healthy for CRL. The reason I said it is because it would force people to choose sides. It would create passion and rivalries that we don't have. Just look at the sports world and how people like Conor McGregor build up interest in their contests. He isn't the highest paid, most watched UFC fighter because of his skills. It's because people love or hate him, and they watch him for both reasons. Beef isn't the long term answer, but it sure is great promotional material and might be a short term answer to our lack of regional rivalries. Brb, going to start a fight between Surgical Goblin and Boeufmac