In South Philadelphia, CoD and FaZe, on the PC is where I spent most of my days - Comcast launches eSports arena

[rcmaehl]

Source:
NBC New York

 

Summary:
Comcast Subsidiary, Spectacor is creating a $50 million eSports arena in South Philly.

 

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

Competitive gaming has become so profitable in recent years that large media companies are getting in on the act. Spectacor announced Monday that it will build a dedicated esport stadium in the heart of the South Philadelphia. The 3,500-seat, $50 million Fusion Arena will play host to local professional team Philadelphia Fusion. "This will be the first ground-up [esports] facility in the western hemisphere," The 60,000 square-foot arena, slated to open in 2021, also will feature a training facility. For a city like Philadelphia, an arena will likely mean added revenue. Last year, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn sold out more than 20,000 tickets for the grand finals of the Overwatch League. A professional venue in Philadelphia...could attract a global audience. Professional-level esports are predicted to generate $1.1 billion in 2019 through a combination of sponsorship and media rights deals, game publisher fees and advertising, merchandise and ticket sales, according to gaming research agency Newzoo. Newzoo's figures don't take into account the money that could be made outside of professional-level competitions. Other avenues also exist, including the monetization of non-competitive gaming through services like YouTube and Twitch. Newzoo predicts that this year, 453.8 million people will watch professional esports globally. By 2022, it expects that audience to balloon even further, to 645 million people. Last year, Disney announced a multiyear deal with Activision Blizzard to air the Overwatch League playoffs and finals on ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2 and Disney XD, bringing competitive video games to television screens. Some gamers have become transcendent millionaires. Last year, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins became the first professional esports player to grace the cover of ESPN Magazine. "It's becoming mass-audience, it's becoming more pop culture," 

 

My Thoughts:

Definitely interesting to see such a large non-gaming, non-tech product company to sink so much money into eSports. Recent eSports. specifically the Overwatch league, definitely hasn't been without controversy though, and it'll likely be reported on more harshly than regular sports as it challenges the sports status quo. Regardless, it'll definitely be interesting to watch eSports as they progress. This is likely the first of many, eSports specific stadiums.

[Shreyas1]

Rip I live on the other side of the US 

[Brooksie359]

They should have waited until goats comp is dead before investing. Watching goats vs goats every game is super boring and makes competitive overwatch not really worth watching for me. 

[PCGuy_5960]

13 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Watching goats vs goats every game is super boring and makes competitive overwatch not really worth watching for me. 

You can always watch CS, aka watch Astralis dominate everyone in every tournament.

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

You can always watch CS, aka watch Astralis dominate everyone in every tournament.

I don't play CS so it's harder for me to get into. I play a ton of overwatch which is why I used to love watching it. Goats meta has been slowly killing the game tbh. I know alot of people who were super upset about dive meta so they created a hero to hard counter it. That caused the monster that is goats meta. The moment they added brig to the game was the moment the game started to go down hill tbh. Funny thing was that dive wasn't even that bad. It was only really prevalent in the higher tiers anyways and that was simply because it was super good but hard to execute. I thought it was pretty balanced because it would allow for you to outplay your opponent or allow you to capitalize on an opponent's mistake. Much harder to do in the snooze fest that is goats. So much heals and shields that people can play like complete idiots and still be fine. They can make huge mistakes and not be punished and still roll any team comp that isn't a mirror. I like that they are investing in an arena for the game but my fear is that the game will die and the arena will go to waste. 

[Sychic]

29 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

They should have waited until goats comp is dead before investing. Watching goats vs goats every game is super boring and makes competitive overwatch not really worth watching for me. 

the goats comp should die out soon after the OWL patch moves onto the newer patches or even the live version of OW. Then it'll be back to insane plays by the dps

[williamcll]

Do they really need a dedicated Esports arena? 

[Vanderburg]

I didn't even realize there was one here in Arlington, TX, until leaving Six Flags. Apparently, it's "the largest in the Americas", but I don't know if that's big or not, or how they can manage to make a profit. Are there really that many events?

[mxk]

9 hours ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

You can always watch CS, aka watch Astralis dominate everyone in every tournament.

shut up!!!1!!!

 

ez4ence!!!!!

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Do they really need a dedicated Esports arena? 

I thought the point of a video game is you can play it on the computer at home. 

[Sparviero]

46 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Do they really need a dedicated Esports arena? 

Automated sterilizing mist and odor neutralizers built into the design?

[Suika]

11 hours ago, Sychic said:

the goats comp should die out soon after the OWL patch moves onto the newer patches or even the live version of OW. Then it'll be back to insane plays by the dps

It's not dead, it's weaker. We'll probably continue seeing GOATs well into stage 2, it's not like pro teams haven't been practicing nonstop for the last few months and perfected a comp who's strength comes from the fact that you can make so many errors before being punished.

[TheSLSAMG]

13 hours ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

You can always watch CS, aka watch Astralis dominate everyone in every tournament.

Or watch Rainbow Six Siege, aka watch G2 dominate everyone and then give cocky interviews

 

Also I have to give it to you OP, that's a really clever title.

[RejZoR]

16 hours ago, Sychic said:

the goats comp should die out soon after the OWL patch moves onto the newer patches or even the live version of OW. Then it'll be back to insane plays by the dps

Haha, no. Baptiste will just replace one of the supports from the goats comp. The rest will remain unchanged. Given it can toss the immortality field more regularly it'll be a regular char. I mean, just look every game, D.Va, Rein, Zarya, Zen, Lucio and Brigitte. They sometimes replace Rein with Winston or Hammond if they need to quickly get to the point and that's about it. Every bloody game the same thing.

[Sychic]

2 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Haha, no. Baptiste will just replace one of the supports from the goats comp. The rest will remain unchanged. Given it can toss the immortality field more regularly it'll be a regular char. I mean, just look every game, D.Va, Rein, Zarya, Zen, Lucio and Brigitte. They sometimes replace Rein with Winston or Hammond if they need to quickly get to the point and that's about it. Every bloody game the same thing.

well then there's really no way to get rid of it other than locked 2-2-2... i just hope jjonak pops off for my fantasy league lol

[RejZoR]

12 minutes ago, Sychic said:

well then there's really no way to get rid of it other than locked 2-2-2... i just hope jjonak pops off for my fantasy league lol

I see more exciting fights in quick play where people use whatever they prefer and don't go for the comp formation. Also, fights don't always look as teams clashing head on, but people rejoin existing fights as they respawn depending on what they are and not always retreat and attack again and it's just more fun that way, for me at least.

[PCGuy_5960]

10 hours ago, fantasia. said:

shut up!!!1!!!

  

ez4ence!!!!!

ENCE definitely doesn't disappoint, unlike FaZe

[maartendc]

On 3/25/2019 at 12:24 PM, rcmaehl said:

 

I see what you did there.

[Juniiii]

Ah! Another company investing in a area they have no experience or clue about, next up a of the world of economics, Tyson, the meat company, will be producing their own mobile phones! 100% made out of organic beef and plastic, this is how the rubber and metal was in their recalled produce.