Landing Esports Events
Destinations of choice bring multiple partnership opportunities
When Microsoft began searching for a global destination to host its Halo Championship Series Kickoff Major, it wanted a host city that had a built-in community and ecosystem that was tried, true and trusted. The city of Raleigh, North Carolina, quickly emerged as the most readily qualified. The tournament this December will represent the largest esports event the city has hosted to date, and it is being highly anticipated by the industry and gaming community since it is the first-ever official Halo Infinite esports event. That’s quite an honor and confirmation for Raleigh.
To win this massive event, Raleigh turned to its Greater Raleigh Esports Local Organizing Committee (GRELOC), whose approach is being led by an esports industry veteran, Ed Tomasi, in partnership with Visit Raleigh and the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance. “Esports has been around for a couple of decades now, but destinations are just now trying to figure out their role and position in hosting major tournaments,” he says. “Most destinations take a transactional approach, but the smarter ones invest in a partnership approach.”
The latter, says Tomasi, is the right strategy. “In a transaction, destinations look at esports as they would any other sport," Tomasi says. “This is missing the bigger opportunity because most esports event organizers and leagues don’t just want to book a static venue and a hotel block.”
Instead, says Tomasi, esports organizations are interested in destinations that can fully support these unique events in a holistic manner. “They want to work in partnership so there is an inherently lower risk for the event organizer and higher quality experience for their fans, players and sponsors,” he says.
What does this partnership look like? For one, the destination partner understands the massive technical and operational needs to pull off a successful esports tournament. “Does the facility take the transactional approach and first present their rate cards, or do they first present how their technical capabilities and infrastructure meet or exceed the anticipated esports demands,” says Tomasi. “GRELOC toured and evaluated a short list of viable esports venues in the Raleigh area and gave each an in-depth facility profile for esports productions groups to become familiar. So when Raleigh says that it’s ready to host esports at a global level, it can instantly show how and why.” This is just one example of how Tomasi, a co-founder of Subnation Media, an esports advisory firm Raleigh had engaged back in 2018, has guided his adopted hometown to the world of landing esports events.
While technical capabilities are just one category of the essential services Raleigh showcases, if destinations truly want to partner with esports event producers, they have to offer a trusted commitment to supporting their own local gaming community and offer their boots-on-the-ground resources well before the production team arrives to start the load-in. “Esports organizers want partners who have pre-established relationships with local vendors and suppliers, pre-negotiated esports event packages with lodging and transportation providers, and a direct relationship with the local esports and gaming fan base,” Tomasi points out. “Esports event producers seek destinations that accommodate and collaborate. For example, offering after-hour access to venues or a city-wide street pole branding package.”
A centralized, local organizing committee like GRELOC can provide the bridge between esports event organizers and local partners that might want to help through sponsorship, promotion and services. “This is where the true partnership comes into play,” says Tomasi. “We have pre-established relationships that value the importance this somewhat newer form of live entertainment delivers, and they’re eager to embrace it. It shows how far and fast Raleigh has come as an esports destination.”
A history secures a future
Raleigh has reached this partnership approach through years of experience. It has applied that to esports from the success it has had with its internationally recognized music festivals and sports tournaments. The first major esports tournament in Raleigh took place at its downtown Convention Center nearly a decade ago when it hosted an annual series of Major League Gaming events. In 2019, GRELOC’s efforts quickly landed the Rainbow Six Major, a Ubisoft game title event featuring 16 teams from around the world and a prize purse of $500,000. “The event yielded a sold-out live audience and had over 16 million livestream views from a global audience. The economic impact was nearly $1.5 million,” says Tomasi.
The pandemic, of course, led to a pause for in-person events, but after a few months, GRELOC found a way to safely host 18 U.S. players at one hotel property in June of 2020, allowing them to compete against other global regions remotely in a PUBG Mobile tournament produced by ESL Gaming.
Today, GRELOC’s vision is to host eight to 10 esports and gaming events of various sizes each year. “We’re striving for a balanced approach of hosting events anywhere from 200 people to 20,000,” Tomasi explains. “The larger events could look like a city-wide takeover, such as a regional esports festival, or it could fill the PNC Arena with a global tournament.”
According to Tomasi, the key is that GRELOC is not taking the transactional approach of pushing space and hotel rooms for a one-off event. “What is of more value is building a trust that fosters multi-year commitments and sustainable relationships. Through this approach, Raleigh has been able to attract a large in-person fan base and gain an even larger brand awareness via the global live streams these esports events broadcast,” he says. “We are being recognized globally as a highly desirable destination in which to live, play, study and/or work by this coveted esports generation. That’s going to pay dividends for Raleigh and our region well into the future,” says Tomasi.
