“We would like to partner with home arena-based teams,” Ward said. “We have no limitations in where we can invest.”

But in the meantime, they have just the single arena, and it played host to a big tournament.

The arena was closed all week to prepare for the Universal Open, which is significant because the Esports Arena is not just a professional venue. During the week, it hosts a variety of amateur competitions, as well as open play on its machines for members who pay $10 a month, much cheaper than paying by the hour at video game cafes. They start weeknight events late so people can navigate the notoriously bad traffic of the Los Angeles area.

The arena is undergoing a number of improvements to make it an even more attractive place to spend hours at a time. The arena will soon serve alcohol — they struggled to get an alcohol permit because city officials “didn’t believe people over 21 years old played video games,” Endres said — and are expanding the food offerings beyond snacks. They have also stepped up in-house production abilities to broadcast their tournaments.

“As you look at the proliferation of esports,” said Rob Simmelkjaer, the NBC Sports executive overseeing the tournament and broadcast, “you start to see a need for more venues.”

While players sit in front of fans, once the match begins, the audience spends most of its time staring up at the screens dotting the arena to watch the action taking place. It’s a cross between a live event and a studio production. Between matches you can hear the analysts breaking down what happened but you cannot see the replays being broadcast, and a producer is continually telling fans to get up and cheer.