Major League Gaming’s New Arena

These days it should come as no surprise when a sports team or college build a brand new facility. Be it for games, training, coaching or anything else, a new building or facility can help bring in recruits/free agents. The new Yankee Stadium cost an estimated $1.5 billion. The football facility at the University of Oregon was $68 million. The list goes on and on as when it comes to sports as sometimes spending up front yields long term results.

The continuously-emerging realm of electronic sports, or esports, is no different. Arguably the largest esports league in north america, Major League Gaming (MLG) announced their plans to open a 14,000 square foot state of the art venue in Columbus, Ohio. The building will sport soundproof booths, broadcast platforms for the play-by-play casting and seating for hundreds of spectators. MLG has been hosting live events since 2004. They’ve been around longer than other north american esports league and have added, removed and sometimes re-added various games to maintain strong viewership numbers.

Currently MLG is mostly a console gaming league, however they have included computer games such as StarCraft II (SC2), League of Legends (LoL) and Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2). At the MLG Anaheim event this summer a total of $142,500 was awarded in prize money for various games. In a separate non-MLG event earlier this year, DotA2 set a record for the largest prize pool in esports history, an incredible $10.9 million for The International 4.

This recent news is another sign that esports aren’t going anywhere. With the recent purchase of the streaming platform Twitch.tv by Amazon for $970 million and the popular Minecraft developer Mojang being bought out by Microsoft for $2.5 billion (yes, billion) video games are no longer a child’s hobby or simple entertainment. It’s a business and now we’re seeing the infrastructure being put in place to grow said business. From existing corporate sponsorship to future endeavors like this new facility in Columbus, Ohio, a new era of big business and esports has arrived. Look for the venue to make its debut at the MLG Columbus event spanning October 24-26.