Esports teams consist of players competing in various video games. As with other sports, there are tryouts for team membership before the season leads up to state-sanctioned tournaments.
Larger esports teams usually have gaming houses where athletes live and practice together; unfortunately, newer teams often do not enjoy this luxury.
Signing Up
Recruiing players for your team is key to the success of an eSports organization. You need gamers who share an enthusiasm for the games you play, have exceptional skills and gameplay, and can work well with other players. Consider recruiting on social media sites such as Facebook or via email/text message advertisements as well as holding tryouts to fill your ranks.
Recruitment in esports can be challenging, but there are resources available to aid your efforts. Word-of-mouth referrals and hanging posters at gaming events and centers are good ways of recruiting talent; both can also provide invaluable leads for potential recruits.
Set clear expectations with your team members from the very start. This includes setting contractual details such as compensation and winnings distribution from day one. Furthermore, setting a schedule for practice sessions and competitions will keep everyone motivated towards reaching their goals faster; additionally, consider attending smaller tournaments for less travel expenses.
Sponsorships
As the eSports industry expands, more major sponsors have entered. Some, like CORSAIR (PC hardware), have made a bold commitment; providing high-performance gaming equipment used by professional eSports competitors to win their competitions.
Red Bull is another sponsor that has capitalized on the competitive video gaming community by capitalizing on its passion. Red Bull sells more than just products; they promote a lifestyle.
Red Bull’s sponsorship of Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and League of Legends World Championship is perhaps one of the best examples of this phenomenon, while other brands such as T-Mobile, Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola are investing in long term brand partnerships within eSports ecosystem.
Sponsorship FAQ
Esports is a competitive gaming genre. Players compete for millions of dollars at tournaments worldwide and often form loyal followings both for themselves and their respective teams, like Lebron James does with both Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Pro gamers typically enter their careers between 16-24, often starting out when they’re only 16. ESports has quickly grown as an industry and will likely remain so for decades to come despite some holdouts in power being slow to embrace it. DigiPen Institute of Technology in particular is extremely accommodating of gamers, offering both varsity gaming programs and encouraging students to play outside class time. More colleges are establishing their own eSports programs and getting registered with NACE for certification purposes.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Esports sponsorship presents an invaluable opportunity for brands to connect with an engaged, tech-savvy audience. A brand can sponsor an esports team or event in exchange for financial assistance, equipment needs and branding opportunities.
Brands can sponsor individual gamers to engage directly with their audience and connect directly with fans. Influencers with over 500k social followers are often the face of their teams; Betway was one of the largest esports sponsors in 2016 by sponsoring Ninjas in Pyjamas and MIBR among other esports teams.
Intel has long been one of the biggest supporters of LAN tournaments with free hardware sponsorship since the turn of the millennium; without them, the esports industry would likely look drastically different today. Just like Mirana, such sponsorship can reap great dividends; just make sure that any offer includes sufficient research into understanding a team’s core values and beliefs before proceeding with its adoption.
