ESports look to lure traditional fans away
Researchers find competitions are big draws for young people
There are plenty of professional athletes who play video games, but are gamers athletes?
Perhaps not in the classical sense, but in the world of eSports, that may be how they are regarded by ever-growing legions of fans. They don’t get timed by coaches in the 40-yard dash, but if you’re playing DOTA 2 or
League of Legends and you want to be competitive, you’d better be good.
“Are they Neymar? No, they’re not professional athletes in that sense,” says Todd Merry of Delaware North, who is overseeing the company’s latest “Future of Sports” report coming out in October. “These people are not incredible physical specimens. But I would argue it is athletics, similar to how archery is athletics.”
Merry, who is chief marketing officer for the Buffalo-based company, was a key player in the first report released last year that examined future sports trends on stadiums, athletes and genetics, media, fans’ consumption of sports and the challenges facing professional leagues.
It predicted much disruption that will topple some businesses and produce opportunities for others. If anything, the new report only shows the pace of change is faster than even the futurists expected.
“As much as I enjoyed the first iteration, I’m really looking forward to seeing the reaction to the second edition,” says Jeremy Jacobs, chairman of Delaware North. “People will be blown away.”
Merry gave a glimpse of the upcoming report to USA TODAY Sports, saying it will devote plenty of attention to eSports, which are different from video games modeled after pro sports, such as the Madden NFL series. Those games contribute to brand-building and can help promote the pro leagues, he says, while eSports “arguably will compete for the time and dollar of the fan.”
ESports competitions pay out big money — $65 million in 2015 — and teams already are wellknown to fans. There was huge interest in The International Do
ta 2 Championships in Seattle in August, and there are multiple websites devoted to covering eSports and its players.
It’s not the NFL, but Merry as-
serts it is at the start of a growth curve similar to the NBA in the 1950s and 1960s.
A few other previews: Virtual reality vs. augment
ed reality: Virtual reality is a full immersive experience that can take you right into a live event (as USA TODAY did at the Indy 500) while Pokemon Go is a wellknown example of augmented reality. Which will get bigger? The futurists say augmented reality: No need for special equipment means easier access.
“If you think of VR as a highend gaming console that a small percentage of fans might own, then AR would be the smartphone, the technology of the masses that most people have embraced,” Merry says. “There is no doubt that VR will provide an amazing experience for the sports fan, but the dominant technology in-venue and at home will be AR.”
At the DOTA 2 event in Seattle, viewers were able to use virtual reality to experience the event but could also try augmented reality. “You could point to anything on the screen and teleport yourself into the game,” Merry said. Watching live sporting events: The myth is young people don’t want to pay for anything, including live sporting events. Not so, Merry says.
That doesn’t mean they want cable or a satellite dish.
“They are leading the charge
on cord-cutting. They do not understand why you have to buy a one-size-for-all cable package with a bunch of channels, most of which you never watch,” he says. “They are willing to pay — for exactly what they want to watch.”
They also move from topic to topic much faster, and companies providing content need to find ways to draw them in, on all platforms, without demanding too much time.
“They love the moment, the transcendent moment, the bloopers, the top 10. … It could be a sixsecond, 10-second, 15-second piece of content.”
It’s all head first: The report also gets into science-heavy subjects such as “neuro-coaching,” which is built on improving sports performance by understanding that muscle memory is not in the muscles, it’s in the brain. Everything from targeted brain exercises to improved sleep techniques is being applied to athletes.
“We weren’t aware of how far along this was,” Merry says.
It’s only been a year since the first Future of Sports report was released. As soon as it was, Merry says, “We saw things were changing.
“I don’t think any one sport has the right to exist as it is,” he says, and the message coming from the future is “not to take for granted that the next generation is going to embrace my sport.”