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Esports is both an industry that innovates and leans on the event models that came before it. Shockingly large live events have propelled the industry forwards, but only by shaping the venues properly can the industry hold that momentum. Technology finance expert Adam Marsh has pulled off such a feat in the sports world, but from behind the scenes, by implementing cost-effective finance and asset management solutions to event spaces, where costs can quickly rack up.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Any company…who participates currently with what we call ‘traditional sports,’ are going to have to look at esports as a place to get involved.”[/perfectpullquote]

Adam Marsh (like so many) is looking and trying to understand esports as it evolves.

“Bigger brands are attaching themselves to the leagues, teams, and to the players,” he tells The Esports Observer. “Sponsorships deals are getting cut. I think that any company…who participates currently with what we call ‘traditional sports,’ are going to have to look at esports as a place to get involved, if your sponsorship dollars are allocated to sports.”

On top of sponsorship deals with teams and venues, Marsh and his colleagues naturally handle the physical banking of certain teams in the NFL, NHL, MLB, and the NBA, as well as collegiate and autosports. While they have not made any sponsorship deals in esports, Marsh says the emerging industry is certainly being evaluated.

“I don’t work on the marketing side of the business, I’m working in a specific capacity in technology finance,” he says. “I can look at a professional sports team, and say what’s the IT situation for that team, starting with the venue itself? The scoreboard, the furniture, fixtures, and equipment?”

He points out some of the major deals that have been signed between North American sports leagues and technology companies, such as Microsoft and the NFL, Apple and MLB. These deals have, respectively, put tablet computers into the hands of players and coaches, and had a significant impact on real-time data analytics. “When I look at esports, and all the stuff that’s required on all those different levels, we can make all those same comparisons,” says Marsh.

As the portmanteau implies, esports is an electronic medium first and foremost. This defines the experience difference between a player and a spectator.

“If you and I were to play a game of pick-up basketball, we would just need a court and a ball, right?,” says Marsh. “Esports, it’s not so easy to do that. We might be able to pick up a controller, but it’s going to have to be wired into something.”

Sports venues, however, have proven reliably appropriate for esports competitions, something Adam attributes to the fact that many venues now pride themselves on installing giant scoreboards, which can be easily transformed into giant monitors.

“If you look at something like that for esports, that would probably be a great place to watch,” he says. “At an esports tournament you really can’t see what the players are doing on the ‘field.’ You need to be hooked into a device, or have your eyes focused on some kind of a screen.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”…We would like to be able to work with these various venues as they start to be constructed.”[/perfectpullquote]

“What’s interesting is there are venues that are now being constructed that are really just for esports, which I think will ultimately be the precedent, if you will.”

Related Article: AEG Part 1—Why a Mainstream Entertainment Company Invested in Esports

As an analogy, Marsh brings up one of his local venues, the Barclays Center. Though the multi-purpose arena will itself be host to the Overwatch League finals in late July, the center was originally built for a basketball team—the Brooklyn Nets. Currently, it’s a shared home with NHL team New York Islanders, but persistent reports suggest the team will be vacating in the next year or so.

“When you look at one of the big problems, it was that the arena was never made for hockey,” says Marsh. “There are blind spots, and the way that the ice rink has to be set up, it’s very specific. I guess I would use that same example for esports. Though we could set up an esports stage for the players to participate on in any of these venues, there could be blind sports.”

He says that creating purpose-built venues for viewing and playing esports would be the way to provide fans the best possible experience. “That’s one of the things that’s of great interest to me…is we would like to be able to work with these various venues as they start to be constructed, helping to finance those, and help put a plan of action together for all the IT that goes into them. Those are big expenditures for anyone to take on.”

Marsh is already impressed by several of the esports-specific venues popping up around the U.S., such as the Esports Arena in Las Vegas and Blizzard’s own arena in LA. The issue, however, that comes with any purpose built venue is ensuring enough feet walk through the door week after week.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]On the Arlington Esports Stadium: “They seem to be creating a type of less traditional sports viewing environment.”[/perfectpullquote]

“Esports 101, it’s often told to people you’re trying to educate about the sport, you say the Staples Center or the Barclays center sold out when there has been an esports event there. Those are modern, traditional indoor venues right? What I think has started to become particularly interesting, and may start to change the way that venue owners and managers go about hosting events is, needing to do more based on keeping fans engaged.”

Whether it’s mall-ifying a venue or adding an amateur gaming component, it’s all about ensuring fans have something else to do throughout a 2-3 day competition. Esports is also its own double-edged sword in this regard: a single event can fill a weekend’s worth of programming, but even a single match lasts twice as long as a typical basketball or soccer game. The finals for the ELEAGUE Major: Boston, for example, was four hours long.

The upcoming Arlington Esports Stadium is one such project that’s looking to address this issue, accompanying its stages with turnkey solutions, an exhibition hall, and training rooms.

Says Marsh, “They’re going to create the exact atmosphere that, whoever deems necessary right now, to make it perfect for an esports fan, parent, or somebody younger. They seem to be creating a type of less traditional sports viewing environment.”

If you’d be interested in hearing more from Adam about the business behind esports venues, be sure to join us at the RSR Partners x HIVE esports business conference, on September 28th.