Arlington’s esports stadium is changing management, and some other things too
The largest esports facility in North America will have new management this year after Arlington’s city council in December decided to hand the keys over to Envy Gaming, a North Texas-based esports organization with teams competing in Call of Duty, Halo and Overwatch leagues.
Those teams are expected to host their home game matches at the Esports Stadium Arlington. The company’s professional Overwatch League team, the Dallas Fuel, sold out the stadium last July in a match against the Houston Outlaws. Dallas Fuel won that showdown 3-0.
The stadium, built by the city and opened in 2018, is an oft-overlooked sports offering in Arlington. But while the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers may be more household names than Dallas Fuel or Houston Outlaws, esports have one of the world’s fastest-growing fanbases. Tournaments in professional leagues for Overwatch, League of Legends (the debut tournament being the focus of Netflix’s 2019 documentary Not a Game) and StarCraft 2 garner global attention.
Arlington has sought since 2018 to break through into the world of professional gaming sports with the stadium. While there may be other, larger venues that host esports events, Esports Stadium Arlington’s 100,000 square feet make it the largest venue dedicated specifically to professional gaming in North America. It can be configured to host anywhere from 250 to 2,500 fans.
Envy hopes to bring more of the explosive growth seen in the esports market to Arlington this year when it hosts the Jan. 21 to Jan. 23 season kickoff tournament for the global Call of Duty professional league, in which it sponsors the team OpTic Texas. Tickets are on sale, ranging from $20 for a one-day ticket to $45 for a weekend pass.
A couple of big changes
The 100,000-square-foot space at Esports Stadium Arlington will be put to use more often, Envy’s president and COO Geoff Moore told the Star-Telegram. That means a couple of big changes to the way the stadium operates, like closing the public gaming center that used to operate from 4 p.m. to midnight, and ending other retail-based offerings like boot camps and private room leases.
Those offerings haven’t caught the attention of many in the area anyway, Moore said, and with more frequent events, tournaments and festivals it will be harder to attract gamers because the gaming center schedule could be sporadic at times. That paired with the expansion of gaming cafes across the region made the center less attractive and less necessary.
But that doesn’t mean the stadium won’t be available to non-professional gamers. Moore said festivals and special tournaments will cater to amateur gamers and weekend warriors, as well as give the stadium opportunities to show love to some games that don’t always have a large enough fanbase to hold specialized tournaments.
Some games, such as the real-time strategy Age of Empires franchise that Moore said he used to spend sleepless nights playing, don’t lend themselves easily to classic tournaments, but could be appreciated by fans and players alongside other offerings at festivals.
Other than that, Moore said most of the changes fans and gamers will see will be a result of a growing reputation. Naming rights to the stadium, if it attracts enough attention to garner the interest of brands, could lead to upgrades to the facility like more large screens for spectators or a wider range of amenities.
Esports are growing, fast
While stereotypes and stigmas still sometimes paint esports as a less-than-desirable arena, that’s changing. Esports now have dedicated arenas like the one in Arlington. They’re being used in education. And a title can bring as much wealth and international notoriety as in almost any traditional sport.
In 2021, the League of Legends world champions Edward Gaming received $2.25 million in prize money. And that’s nowhere near the biggest payout.
Last year, the Fortnite World Cup champion Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, a then-18-year-old from Pennsylvania, won $20 million. He’s now the chief gaming scout for Hollister, the apparel company that markets itself as a SoCal fashion staple announced in 2021. He even designed a line for the company meant for gamers.
In the right circles, names like Bugha, Edwards Gaming, Overwatch’s Shanghai Dragons and Joona ‘Serral’ Sotala, the first non-South Korean gamer to win a world championship title in StarCraft 2, will inspire the same feeling as names like Nolan Ryan, Emmitt Smith and Dirk Nowitzki in fans of those sports.
And the opportunity to be a professional gamer goes beyond tournaments and professional matches. Gamers can rake in some serious cash by streaming their games and posting highlights of their sessions, attracting interest from sponsors and selling ads. Some streaming platforms, like Twitch, even offer fans the opportunity to support their favorite gamers.
Hollister isn’t the only one that can benefit from sales of gaming-related apparel and merchandise. If a streamer has enough followers, they can create their own hoodies, T-shirts, hats, bracelets and other merch to sell to their fans.
While a lot of esports’ large and growing fanbase isn’t as frequently noticed as that of baseball or football or soccer, Moore said the American interest in gaming is still growing. International attention to esports is also huge, creating a global community Moore compared to Formula 1 racing, a sport he used to promote in Austin.
That domestic growth and existing international fandom is something Arlington and Envy hope to foster, invite into the city and cash in on.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 5:30 AM.