Rarely a week goes by where another sports club doesn’t reveal its new involvement in esports. Esports Insider’s Super Forum on the 22nd March at the home of the Premier League champions Chelsea will bring together the brightest minds in the industry to analyse, dissect and discuss the opportunities for those who still remain scared to take the plunge into the wonderful world of esports.
With 2018 seeing the launch of an expanded FIFA esports scene, the inaugural NBA 2K League and a step up in the likes of Madden esports, sports simulation titles are clearly on the rise as competitive gaming titles. Additionally, 2018 will see the launch of the Overwatch League and North American League of Legends Championship Series franchise systems which are both inundated with backing from traditional sports. It’s clear now that esports is something that is not being ignored and clubs and sports stakeholders are eager to get involved. The scale of investment varies from signing a FIFA player all the way through to a (rumoured) $20 million investment for an OWL franchise spot.
The Esports Insider team has put together a formidable team of top speakers to provide invaluable information as to the benefits of diversification into esports from a sports club perspective. Confirmed speakers include Nikolaj Nyholm, the CEO and Founder of RFRSH Entertainment, the organisation behind Astralis. RFRSH has successfully engineered some of the most notable non-endemic sponsorship deals in esports to date, with Audi and CocoFuzion amongst an ever-growing list of big name brands getting involved with esports teams.
Other names include Colin Johnson, the Head of FIFA at Fnatic. Fnatic recently partnered with Italian giant A.S. Roma to introduce esports to the club and the unique partnership sees the Fnatic logo feature in the middle of the iconic A.S. Roma jersey. One would expect more similar partnerships between endemic esports organisations and traditional sports clubs in the coming year, and there’s few better to discuss the ins and outs of such than Johnson.
Ben Woodward, Director and Co-Founder of Code Red Esports will be on hand to discuss the agencies work with the London Spitfire Overwatch League team as well as his experience assisting traditional sports clubs delve into the esports space. Code Red is a leading agency, spearheaded by effervescent esports host and commentator Paul “Redeye” Chaloner that continues to provide solid consultancy work to those looking to break into the space.
Other speakers include Ginx.TV host and presenter Heather “Naysayerz” Dower, ESL UK Managing Director James Dean, Team Vitality CEO Nicolas Maurer, Swipe Right PR Founder Kirsty Endfield, Sportego CEO Trev Keane and the Commissioner of the Esports Integrity Coalition Ian Smith. There’s plenty more speakers to come too as the one day event at Stamford Bridge looks to help educate the wider sports world through the opinions and experiences of the very best.
There’s set to be six panels and workshops with over 25 speakers in total, as well as an esports business exhibition zone and ample opportunity for networking, meetings, tournaments and there will be refreshments throughout the day. Attendees will also be welcomed to the official after party which runs until late.
The conference will be run alongside the SBC Betting on Football 2018 conference, and as such will see several stakeholders from a similar world in attendance at the ESI Super Forum including representatives from some of Europe’s top football clubs.
For more information and to purchase tickets for the event please click here.