Overwatch final in Philly underscores esports’ growth
PHILADELPHIA >> Matthew DeLisi had been to the Wells Fargo Center plenty of times, but this trip would be different.
Raised in Northeast Philadelphia, DeLisi knew this homecoming was special, and not just because it was the first time he’d attended an event there with a designated cosplay lot.
The Center was playing host to the Sept. 29 Overwatch League Grand Finals, one of the most popular esports leagues in the world. DeLisi would be on the stage, leading his San Francisco Shock out before a sold-out crowd.
“I was pretty nervous,” DeLisi said. “My hands got numb, my arms got numb and it was kind of, it was pretty emotional for me. I’ve been to the Wells Fargo Center dozens of times. I’ve been to Sixers games. I’ve been to Flyers games. I’ve sat top floor, bottom floor, I’ve sat basically any place you can. But I’ve never been on the stage.
“After I walked out and went back to the dugout, I was pretty emotional but I didn’t really let it show, I hope. But it was still crazy.”
The deafening roar of a sold-out crowd — think part Flyers game, part rave — vouched for the craziness. By the time DeLisi found his family in the crowd, after the Shock had wrapped up a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Titans to clinch the championship, he had not just had an unforgettable moment.
A championship would’ve spurred jubilation no matter where it was held. But to couple it with the embrace of his city, which has enthusiastically bought into what many people and dollars project as a sport of the future, was even more magical.
Esports have grown massively popular in a short time, from the province of darkened basements and internet message boards to crowded arenas and Sunday-afternoon placement on ABC. Its weekend in Philadelphia showed the city to be near the center of the gaming universe, and a constellation of colleges in the area are part of the early wave of schools adopting varsity esports, providing a pathway for even greater growth.
Philadelphia rolled out the red — OK, orange — carpet for the event. Boathouse Row was lit in the Overwatch League’s signature electric orange hue, and the championship trophy toured the obligatory B-roll hotspots, from Broad Street to Independence Hall. DeLisi, who goes by the game handle “super,” led his teammates on a walking tour for cheesesteaks; the 10-member team includes six players from South Korea, the nexus of Overwatch’s popularity, one from Sweden and three Americans.
Questlove made an appearance as an in-arena DJ, after European EDM producer/DJ Zedd’s prematch concert. DeLisi and 2019 league MVP Jay Won (gamertag “sinatraa”) will reunite with Questlove Monday night on a “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” appearance.
Esports as a business are expected to break the $1 billion mark in 2019, double its worth from 2017.
Overwatch is one of several big titles, the multiperson shooting game designed for six players and optimized for team competition with 40 million active players.
In 2018, California-based parent company Blizzard Entertainment launched the Overwatch League (OWL), a global enterprise with 20 franchises on three continents spread across Atlantic (cities like Paris, Toronto, New York) and Pacific (Los Angeles, Seoul, Shanghai) divisions.
OWL is, according to Nielsen, the fastest growing sports league in the United States, with an average fan age of 24 — contrast that to 57 for a Major League Baseball fan — and 70 percent of its viewership in the coveted 18-to-34 demographic.
The OWL awarded $1.1 million to the winning team out of a $5 million prize pool. The league’s 200 gamers earn a minimum salary of $50,000; for perspective, MLS’s minimum reserve salary is a shade above $52,000 in year 24.
Benefits include guaranteed contracts, health insurance, retirement plans and housing, which will be extended next year as clubs branch out from the hub in Burbank, Calif., for matches in host cities.
Multi-sport power players like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the Denver-based Kroenke family have added esports to their portfolios. The Shock are owned by NRG Esports, co-founded by the Sacramento Kings’ owners;
financial backers include Shaquille O’Neill, Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
The finals matchup created a raucous atmosphere in the Wells Fargo Center, with more than 12,000 fans packing the arena.
The OWL had its stars working the crowd, with in-match interviews in several languages (Korean and Chinese alongside English). The product is streamlined
for online consumption, with experts describing the dizzying game play in real time, even as the broadcast view constantly whips from the perspective of one character to another.
If you can set aside the wall-to-wall brand activations and the general marketing bonanza — anything that gets this many 18-34-year-olds together will be fiercely coveted by any company that doesn’t advertise exclusively on the Price is Right — the intensity in the building wasn’t that far off the usual sporting events that populate the Center.
Philadelphia has gone all-in on esports, with brick-and-mortar backing. The Philadelphia Fusion was one of OWL’s founding members, losing the 2018 final to the London Spitfires.
On Sept. 26, ComcastSpectacor broke ground on Fusion Arena, a $50 million, first-of-its-kind gaming venue at the sports complex in South Philadelphia that will house team offices and a 3,500seat arena for matches, set to open in 2021.
“Esports have such a big name nowadays, and them being able to bring it to such large landscapes like this and being able to attract really broad audiences is eye-opening,” said Sakif Ahsan, a member of the esports team at DeSales University who attended the OWL finals, what he called a “once-ina-lifetime experience.” “It shows there’s a lot left to be done and this is only the beginning of something great moving forward.”
One of the main vectors for esports’ growth is college campuses.
By 2018, 63 colleges and universities offered varsity esports, up from seven just two years earlier. The National Association of College Esports (NACE) counts more than 150 members, among them a number of smaller colleges in Pennsylvania, including DeSales, Delaware Valley, Albright and Widener, which is set to start play this winter.
Widener’s investment in the space includes a devoted room with 26 computers set up, one that esports coach Devin Hartnett says was still insufficient to meet demands for most of the recent sessions for interested participants.
College esports, which includes Overwatch and games like League of Legends, Dota, Rocket League and other sports titles, have grown organically. What used to be informal meet-ups of gamers turned into club sponsorship, then varsity recognition. While the NCAA doesn’t govern it, many schools house esports under athletics and graft their NCAA-type requirements onto e-athletes.
At Widener, gamers, like athletes, have GPA requirements to remain eligible, necessary credits per semester and time blocked off for practices and study halls. Varsity gamers have mandated workout regimens and access to nutritional resources, areas the average college kid doesn’t necessarily excel in.
“The reason why it’s such a popular thing, one it’s just a successful industry,” Hartnett said. “And two, people really, really like the concept of being able to play their favorite game, go to school, get their degree and reap scholarship benefits in addition to potential prize money that gets converted into their tuition for playing a game that they would be playing in their leisure time anyway.”
The pending $4 million renovation at Montgomery County Community College’s Pottstown campus will also make room for an esports team, said Philip Needles, vice president of student services for the campus.
He said the campus will field a competitive team Fifa soccer in the college Rocket League, complete with a coach, and they hope to have a team up and running in the spring.
College kids are playing games like Fortnite in droves whether there’s money — prize, scholarship or otherwise — at stake. The sheen of athletics legitimizes it, removing the stigma of empty bags of Doritos and bottles of Mountain Dew piled up in a common room. It’s also a competitive advantage for schools: A prospective student choosing between schools might weigh esports as a decisive factor.
“It’s definitely created some buzz on campus with existing students, with our players who are already here and not recruited for that purpose, but also with just the general public and prospective students,” said Karen Ruggles, the director of DeSales’ esports program and an assistant professor of computer science. “I’m always answering phone calls or someone heard from someone or saw it on our TV commercial that airs on local channels.”
With an industry ballooning to such proportions, job opportunities are myriad, with numerous niches beyond gamer or game designer to aspire to. And there’s the social aspect, of gamers finding their community. That it happens to be at a varsity level is just a bonus.
That’s what draws players like Ahsan, and what could draw many more.
“Within colleges, many people like to look down on that stuff,” he said. “They say, why’s there a room for playing a bunch of video games when you could be getting a degree? I think that for students especially, it can be a career field or more than just a hobby.”
And at the Pottstown campus of Montgomery County Community College, that is the idea behind a new series of business courses to teach students not only how to code to build the games, but the business of gaming.
“It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry and there is a demand among students for learning more about it,” Needles said.
“We see this not only as an opportunity for league play, but to partner with high schools and get students involved early on,” said Victoria BasteckiPerez, interim president and provost of the college.
There is at least one local high school student they may want to look at recruiting.
In July Pottsgrove High School student Kyle Giersdorf won $3 million as the World Fortnite Cup solo champion, playing his final game at Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium in New York.
Giersdorf, who is a member of the Sentinels’ Los Angeles-based esports organization, and 99 others competed in six matches with the prize of $3 million on the line.
Giersdorf had earned himself some notoriety in the gaming community prior to the event. He streams his videogaming on the site Twitch, where others can see him play. His Twitch, Twitter, YouTube and twitch accounts all had tens of thousands of followers prior to his big match. He had thousands more during and after.