A Look At The Biggest Esports Event In UK History

Soody – ESL One Dota 2 Tournament at Arena Birmingham
21,000 came to see the event over one weekend, some 30 million watched online

2018 was a huge year for esports, not just in the U.S., where several cities announced the opening of dedicated esports arenas, and agencies invested in acquiring esports expertise, but also across the pond, where the world’s biggest metal festival opened an esports arena on site in Germany, and the UK hosted its biggest esports event in history: a DOTA 2 tournament held by the Electornic Sports League (ESL) at Arena Birmingham, May 25-27.

Pollstar spoke with the arena’s head of venue sales Ian Congdon to get an idea of the impact the event had.

– Ian Congdon
Head of venue sales at Arena Birmingham

“It was big news. Over the weekend, we had in the region of 21,000 visitors to the venue, to come and attend the event,” Congdon said. “But then there’s hundreds, maybe up to 500 participants, sponsors, partners, team managers, and production teams, that descend on the city and are here with us for a week.”

The DOTA 2 finals were a three-day event, qualifications lasted all week at the arena. “It’s a massive undertaking for any venue, a significant tenancy. The challenge of accommodating the event is more akin to a conference than it is to just putting a show on,” he explained.

During ESL One tournament, sponsors and partners, games publishers, companies that sell computers and computer equipment, used the concourse of Arena Birmingham to put their products on display. Esports events aren’t about packing a venue with as many spectators as possible, but being able to offer commentary positions, VIP areas and sponsor activations. After all, the main audience is online. 

Which isn’t to say that esports doesn’t sell tickets. In 2017, there were 588 major esports events that generated an estimated $59 million in ticket revenues worldwide, up from $32 million in 2016, according to a market report by data intelligence firm Newzoo. 

The League of Legends World Championship alone – the most watched event on Twitch in 2017 – generated $5.5 million in ticket revenues. Newzoo’s estimate for 2018 includes tickets and merchandise sales, and stands at $95.5 million.

Because the main audience is online, connectivity is the main requirement for producers of esports events. “It’s watched globally. Our audience for this particular [ESL One] event was somewhere in the range of 30 million people, so we need to provide the capability of getting that content out of the venue and on to the internet,” Congdon said.

Arena Birmingham installed a broadband line, a hardwired internet connection, for this year’s tournament. “That might not be enough in two years time, you just never now. We need to continue to look at how we evolve and adapt, not only to meet the needs of our core business, but new business opportunities like these. We hear that the Sphere in London is talking about having connectivity at every seat. Is that something that we need to factor in, and how the hell are we going to retro-fit connectivity in every seat,” Congdon said.

“We also need to consider the customers’ requirements, whether that’s wifi or 4G,” he continued, adding that “People’s interactions with the game that’s on in front of them through their phones and online is an essential element to it. Esports is nothing without the fans. [The producers of esports events and the players] treat them with the greatest degree of respect. It’s refreshing to see their approach. Goodie bags, for instance, are genuine high quality merchandise.” 

Including media rights, advertising, sponsorship, and game publisher fees, the worldwide esports industry will be worth $906 million at the end of 2018 – a year-on-year growth of 38.2 percent, according to the Newzoo report. North America will account for $345 million of the total and China for $164 million.

Newzoo projects worldwide esports revenues to reach $1.65 billion by 2021. By that year, the number of esports enthusiasts – defined as people who watch professional esports content more than once a month – will have grown to 250 million. Adding the number of occasional viewers, which is projected to reach 307 million, there will be an audience for esports of 557 million around the world by 2021, a lot of them ticket buyers.

It’s an interesting market for brands, who recognize the opportunity to reach a young, digitally engaged audience that doesn’t consume the traditional media any longer. Adidas created a Fifa 19 jersey line in association with EA Sports, French football club Paris St. Germain runs a dedicated esports division, which has active teams in Dota 2, Fifa, Rocket League and League of Legends.

NEC Group – ESL One Dota 2 Tournament at Arena Birmingham
“Esports is nothing without the fans,” said Ian Congdon

ESL One will return to Arena Birmingham in 2019, sponsors include Intel, Mercedes Benz and DHL. “Esports is a brand-new genre of event/entertainment, if you want to give it a label. It forms part of our consideration and our future venue strategy,” said Congdon. “We’re thinking about growing the number of esports events in our venues, obviously. We’ve done it successfully, and we’ve seen the benefits. ESL are returning, because the first one was so successful.

It is a genre we’re expecting to grow quite significantly, and our challenge as venues is equipping ourselves to meet the needs of the event.”