Though traditional sports around the world were brought to a standstill by the coronavirus pandemic, eSports leagues turned to a digital gaming playbook honed by years of practice.

In a back-to-the-future adaptation to the reality of social distancing, most of them have, for the time being, exited the world of players sitting adjacent to one another in filled arenas in favor of competitions in which players compete remotely. From the perspective of online viewers around the world, the experience is the same – except for the lack of crowd noise and reaction shots – while they maintain connection to their favorite teams and players.

ESL Pro League and the League of Legends Championship Series initially tried to continue their seasons in studios without fans, but eventually were driven online.  Play in Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League was suspended for part of March, but resumed March 31il via remote play. It had planned an ambitious third season that was to feature live weekend matches in six countries over a 27-week season. 

Esports Viewership Increases

When a large chunk of the global population is homebound, there’s an upside to being a business that’s largely consumed online. (Ask Netflix, Disney+ and any of the other streaming video platforms.) The popular Twitch game streaming platform has seen a 10-12% increase from the prior month in viewership starting in March, while YouTube was up 15%, according to research firm Newzoo. And while leagues may lose some in-arena advertising revenue during the shutdown, sponsorships can stay in place on the digital platforms. Sponsorships and media rights account for 75% of Esports revenue, which is expected to increase 15.7% this year to $1.1 billion, according to Newzoo. Revenue from event ticket sales and merchandise accounts for only 10% of the eSports total.   

Familiar Business
“Esports hasn’t had to rethink its entire model,” says James Earl, an attorney with the Fladgate law firm, which represents several leagues. “That [becoming more mainstream] was going to happen in due course and this situation will accelerate that and now it will gain more legitimacy faster. You’ve got to remember that esports is, to a certain extent, generational. Some traditional sports fans will never see esports as a legitimate element of the sports sector. Esports isn’t interested in trying to win over those people.”

That’s not to say that traditional sport leagues haven’t caught on. Most notably, The NBA 2K League joint venture between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive – a full-fledged eSports venture entering its third year — will start a six-week season on May 5, with 23 teams will playing a pandemic-adapted schedule of  regular-season games online from their geographical markets. Plans for playoffs are still being formulated. The games, originally slated to start March 24, will be simulcast live on Twitch and YouTube.

And the major sports leagues also are working with their digital licensees to create promotional events around their real-life players competing on their videogame playing fields. Among those efforts:

• Major League Baseball, along with licensee Sony Interactive Entertainment launched “MLB The ShowPlayers League” that began airing April 23 on ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and MLB Network. The tournament, which pits MLB? players ages 25 and under from 30 teams against each other, will be capped by playoffs on Friday (May 1) and a “World Series” on Sunday (May 3). Sony will donate revenue from the tournament to charity.
• Spain’s La Liga soccer league live-streamed a videogame tournament in late March featuring the players from Real Madrid and FC Barcelona teams competing on Electronic Arts’ “FIFA 2020” game. The tournament was streamed on Twitch and attracted more than one million viewers. While the tourney was designed to keep fans engaged until the teams return to the field, it also was a test of the league’s ability to deliver personalized content.
• The National Hockey League (NHL), which suspended its season in March, will release the first-ever NHL Player Gaming Challenge on Thursday (April 30), presented by Honda in coordination with ESL Gaming. The league’s latest #HockeyAtHome event will feature 50 NHL players representing all 31 teams, including the league’s new franchise in Seattle.
• NASCAR, working with licensee iRacing, launched the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series on March 22 with several of its full-time drivers and pulled in 903,000 viewers on Fox Sports One. That’s well below the more than 4.5 million viewers that watched the last three live races before the hiatus, but enough to convince NASCAR to continue the series into May.