PRO SPORTS ADD GAMERS TO THEIR FAMILY TREE

For me gaming has always been an extension and a reflection of professional sports, providing a chance for us to relive moments that have happened in sports as well as creating our own ones through games such as FIFA, PGA Tour, Madden etc. Sports teams are always looking for ways to expand their brand and create new vehicles for other people to tap into their arena.

Gamers are being signed by professional sports teams and organisations to represent them virtually, becoming their ambassadors. The early adopters of this approach of expanding your ecosystem includes the NFL, who is looking to sign the top Madden gamers for all 32 teams for the representation of the teams at Madden tournaments as well as West Ham and Man City who are signing their gamers to represent them at FIFA tournaments and club events. This is an interesting new marketing channel for professional sports who already have channel that provides a human connection for their audience via their athletes. However, with the addition of gamers as ambassadors it means being able to tap into a new world of fans. For gamers it provides a new form of belonging. Those who were not able to play for professional sports establishments for either not having the athletic ability or skills are now able to represent them through their own means of expression which is gaming, which I think is a great way to organically bring the gaming and sports world together.

eSports is an arena already worth around $748M and is continuing to grow, evolve and become a global phenomenon culturally with the help of players like Twitch, Youtube and even sports networks like ESPN who recently broadcasted the annual EA Sports Madden NFL Championship on ESPN 2 (game-changing!). eSports provides a secondary experience of professional sports and with gamers becoming ambassadors of sports teams, this highlights the encouraging development of the relationship between professional sports and eSports.

Both gaming and sports are forms of entertainment that transcend culture and bring people together, by providing experiences that we can enjoy and share with each other. I’m interested to see how athletes and gamers within professional sports and eSports respectively will begin to connect with each other as this relationship continues to develop.