Essendon buys top-tier eSports team and plots video game glory

ESPORTS is the fastest-growing sports category in the world and is transfoming the global landscape. Following in the footsteps of Manchester City and the 76ers, Essendon have invested, but why?

Essendon is the latest Australian sporting organisation to buy an eSports team. Picture: AFP

ESSENDON has become the latest professional Australian sporting organisation to buy an eSports team and will welcome seven eSports players to The Hangar - but don’t expect to see senior coach John Worsfold on the controller.

The Bombers have joined with Executive Sports and Entertainment to take ownership of top-tier team Abyss.

The team, likely to be renamed the Bombers, will be based at Essendon’s Tullamarine headquarters and compete in the League of Legends — a multiplayer online fantasy game.

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It will next year compete in the Oceanic Pro League in an attempt to qualify for the eSports world championship, which this year sold out stadiums across China and offered a $1.5 million winner’s cheque.

Worsfold conceded today that he didn’t know a lot about the gaming sphere, but said he was excited about the club moving into the growth sport.

“We’ve got seven young guys who are currently living in Sydney and they’re athletes and they’re moving down to Melbourne,” he said.

“They’ll be part of our facilities - they’ll train here, both physical and online gaming training. It’s a real growth area for sporting industry and we’re really excited about it.”

eSports are played in stadiums in front of huge crowds. Picture: AFP

As for his chances of dipping a toe, the self-professed gaming novice said there is “no chance”.

“No chance of that at all. I don’t know if they’ll train in the altitude chamber when they’re doing it, but we’ll see what they reckon,” he said.

Bombers captain Dyson Heppell admitted he was another who won’t be able to offer much to the club’s newest members.

“I’m one of the worst gamers you’ll see,” he said.

“We’ll embrace those guys and having them part of the club which is awesome.”

Essendon chief marketing officer Justin Rodski said the club was committed to creating a professional culture and high-performance environment for its new team.

“eSports is the fastest-growing sports category in the world and is quickly changing the entertainment and sports landscape,” Rodski said.

“The international audience is close to 300 million people, the majority are aged 14-34 years, providing a unique platform to engage and reach a younger demographic of fans.

“As a club, we are looking at ways to diversify our business, invest in growth and create new opportunities to drive incremental consumer and commercial revenues.”

The Adelaide Crows in May announced their acquisition of Australian eSports team Legacy Esports for a six-figure sum.

NBA teams Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, the New York Yankees, European soccer powerhouses Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and AS Roma have all invested in eSports.

Speaking on SEN on Friday morning, Rodski said the team would have full access to everything Essendon had to offer — training facilities, dieticiand and high performance advisers.

“They’re like any other athlete in any other club,” he said. “They want to be the best they can be and we want to provide them with that opportunity.

“They will get to use our resources and facilities, dietitian, high performance team.

“It’s difficult to get your head around, it’s a new frontier.

“They have to do mental preparation and train, so they’re at their best when they perform at a weekend.”

Explaining why now was the time to be investing, he added: “The global (esports) final this year in Shanghai was in front of a stadium crowd of more than 90k.

“This is a great platform for us to reach a very difficult demographic — the younger audience. Through events and merchandise we will recoup the investment.

“The UK and Europe are catching up to America, I think the Yankees just bought into a team valued at $13m.

“Etihad Stadium is going to become the hub of esports in Australia, in three to five years there will be more AFL teams involved.”

Supplied undated image obtained Monday, May 1, 2017 of a view of the crowd during the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) esports tournament in Katowice, Poland