Over that past five years of dedicated esports coverage at SBJ, what stories stood out to the sports business community?
Myriad issues hampered sustainability of Overwatch League
Overwatch League was supposed to blend the best of esports with the best of traditional sports fandom. Going with a geolocated franchise system and attracting pro team owners like Robert Kraft, Stan Kroenke and Francesco Aquilini, the Activision Blizzard-owned league looked to grow from a big event model to something more akin to U.S. stick-and-ball sports scheduling. Alas, that model failed. There were continuous format changes for a game without real history to it, a lack of direction and a misguided business model. Now,
the OWL is a defunct effort, with owners getting back only a fraction of their investment.
TSM sells LCS slot to Shopify Rebellion
TSM was one of the most popular esports organizations in the world because of its League of Legends presence. So when the TSM owner Andy Dinh
sold an LCS slot to e-commerce giant Shopify, it sent shockwaves through esports, as the North American League of Legends scene wasn’t exactly at its height. But Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobias Lütke and his organization have been going strong, and League of Legends appears to be on better footing in North America.
Climate Pledge Arena finds The International outpaces sports events for F&B sales
This was a head-turner for even my long-tenured SBJ colleagues. Data from concessionaire Delaware North showed that a marquee esports event -- Dota 2's The International --
delivered food and beverage figures outpacing even the Kraken at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. “Over the course of the three-day event, we experienced a nearly 40% increase in food volume compared to other sporting events and 7% lift in non-alcoholic beverage sales,” Delaware North’s Matt Loerke told SBJ.
Microsoft clears last hurdle to acquire Activision Blizzard in $69 billion deal
Perhaps the biggest story in gaming and esports over the last decade was
Activision Blizzard finally coming into the Microsoft tent after a long look by federal regulators (and foreign governments). Esports fans worried about Microsoft, which had been lukewarm on competitive gaming and often farmed out operations to third parties. There are still more questions than answers as Microsoft continues to integrate Activision.
