For fans of professional basketball, summertime is traditionally a dead spot. Training camps don’t start until early fall, followed by the regular season. However, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has figured out a clever workaround: televising its league-wide summer league games. The catch is, these games don’t feature superstars, like Lebron James or Kevin Durant, instead they are full of recently drafted rookies, undrafted free agents and other assortments of NBA hopefuls. In other words, the level of basketball is far from NBA quality. However, this hasn’t stopped huge global brands like Samsung (official sponsor) from buying in, nor impressive attendance numbers and TV ratings from piling up. Success of the NBA Summer League is a testimony to the value of sport product; a concept badly needed in the eSports arena.
It takes a league to create a product
Modern-day sport is no longer, simply, a competitive activity with aesthetic spectator appeal. It is also an immensely popular entertainment/media experience and reliable vehicle for corporate promotion, e.g. marketing. This did not occur overnight. The formation and evolution of sport as a product has facilitated sky-rocketing values of professional sport properties; to the extent that competitive play between the actual players/teams is only a piece of the puzzle. Case in point is the NBA’s success in transforming a series of exhibition games, featuring a vastly inferior level of play and talent, into a notable media property. Basically, the league’s refined ability to polish, package and deliver covers a multitude of sins.
Up to this point, comparison between traditional sports and eSports has centered around whether competitive gaming is a form of athletics. However, the largest chasm between the two lies in the role of traditional sport and eSport leagues themselves. Contrary to popular belief, the most important responsibility of a league like the NBA, has nothing to do with what occurs on the court. Instead it is as sole proprietor of the NBA product. The crucial flow of sponsorship money, endorsements and media opportunities are sustained by the existence of a stable, league-wide product.
Individual teams and organizations thrive or wither based on the strength of this product. In fact, one could argue that this is the role of an association like the NBA. Yet game developers like Riot Games (creator of League of Legends), who maintain stewardship of eSport leagues today, maintain no such parallel. While understandable, developers have been thrust into this position by the meteoric explosion of eSports, they must adapt or risk falling by the wayside of a fast changing landscape.
Star power matters
A product can’t exist without a spokesperson to sell it and, in the case of sports, it starts (and ends) with the players. As sport properties have increased in value, so has the value of players who maintain their collective luster. Players are the ambassadors for the league wide product. The same holds in eSports. As a result, the plight of pro players must be granted more priority; not simply as a moral stance but as a business decision.
When ESPN The Magazine featured eSports in an issue last month, the spotlight was cast, not on a team or coach or organization, but on League of Legends superstar, Faker. As a grandfather of sports media, ESPN understands how important the best and brightest players are to the nature of a competitive activity. A complete eSports product depends on a class of superstars who are elevated the forefront of the scene. Their stories, career moments and personas must serve as fuel for the fire of an entire industry.
Give the fans what they want
The NBA’s Summer League found a niche (no televised basketball during the summer months) and filled it. eSports has done an incredible job of engaging an entire global community of fans and viewers, but must continue to fill its own gaps. One such area is mobile. Fans want more than apps, they clamor for a better integrated mobile experience featuring media, content and user interactions; create that and more opportunities to convert customers will emerge. Unfortunately, an unclear eSport product picture prevents this type of customer formula from forming. Still, what’s in it for stewards of already popular eSport leagues? How does strategic focus on an eSport product benefit their bottom line? The answer: over the several business quarters, not much. Over the next 2-3 years, as eSports continues to rise as global phenomenon, it will mean millions in opportunity loss.
The future is now
Game developers must accept their changing role not only as caretakers of game titles and franchises, but also as owners of respective eSport products. This is not a simple transition. Companies like Valve and Riot are, at their core, software companies. Yes, they live and breathe gaming but the marketing and media aspects of growing an eSport product doesn’t clearly overlap. And to treat eSports as just competitive gaming misses the generational opportunity it represents as global shift in, not only how we play games but, the consumption of entertainment in the years to come. Essentially, if today’s eSports leaders refuse to learn from the models present in the traditional sports world, they risk becoming tomorrow’s footnote.
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Alex Fletcher is founder & president at eSports Group, where he helps customers meet their eSports advisory & consulting needs. When Alex isn’t glued to a screen, he spends time with his wife, their two dogs, and pretends to learn Polish. Feel free to stalk him on Twitter – @FletchUnleashed