At the same time Darren Birch, then the AFL's commercial boss and now the league's head of growth, digital and audience, went to a business conference where he saw esports presentations. Despite the AFL's status as a financial and commercial behemoth in Australian sports and entertainment (they're one and the same thing these days), Birch, and many of his colleagues at the AFL, believe the league cannot become complacent about its audience or revenue. AFL research shows that winning the hearts and minds of young people is as tough as ever and if the organisation and the game doesn't evolve it will be left behind, no matter how big it is right now. That's a very real threat. It's that threat that has league headquarters and clubs experimenting with things such as AFLX, AFLW, "look of the game" rule changes, basketball or netball or baseball team ownership, changing the players' on-ground warm-up time in favour of "fan activation", re-recording club songs so they are of better digital quality and, to a lesser extent, renaming Etihad Stadium to Marvel Stadium. The non-traditional AFL fan demographic is the target here, as is holding children's attention span for longer in a more competitive entertainment market place. The Bombers eSports team, owned by the Essendon Bombers AFL team. Carlo La Civita (back row, second from left), says the investment has helped a lot. Credit:Jason South Esports is perhaps the most bizarre of those experiments, but it hasn't stopped the football industry's advance. In early 2017 the Adelaide Crows purchased the Australian professional esports organisation Legacy and the AFL had announced its ambition to host esports tournaments at Etihad Stadium. Months later the AFL announced a partnership with Riot Games, who develop the wildly popular game League of Legends.

In the next year, Essendon would buy an esports team and rename it "Bombers" while North Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong, West Coast and GWS have all considered or are considering their own move into the industry. The Bombers esports team competes using Essendon's branding and colours. Legacy don't play with Adelaide's colours, but do use the Crows logo throughout their branding. Bombers play the game League of Legends in the Oceanic Pro League. Adelaide and Legacy also field a League of Legends team that competes against the Bombers in the OPL. League of Legends is a multi-player arena battle game that has nothing to do with Australian rules football. It's likely no AFL esports team will ever play an Aussie rules game competitively in the near future. Adelaide and Legacy also field teams in other games such as Counter Strike (a first-person shooter game) and Rocket League (kind of like soccer, except the players are race cars). The Crows have started a "High School eSports League" with 75 Australian high school teams playing League of Legends. They will soon launch high school tournaments into more game titles. "It's an extension of what we do as a community club in footy, engaging with schools in school programs," Smart told Fairfax Media. "We talk to them about different aspects of life, like health, wellbeing, sportsmanship, for example. What we are trying to do is connect high schools to international game or working opportunities. Creating a team sport tournament environment where there is a path to being semi-pro or pro, and then move or play internationally. "It's about engaging with the millions of high school students and helping with STEM programs, online bullying, behaviour and using esports to teach that. To help teachers and parents get a better appreciation of gaming and esports."

Adelaide's Football Club purchased the Legacy eSports team earlier this year. Here, Crows CEO Andrew Fagan addresses the team. Smart said convincing traditional sponsors to invest in esports would be a "slow burn" but that the Crows were in their investment for the long haul. At the AFL, commercial and audience executive Birch is excited about possibly attracting more eyes to Australian rules footy brands. "It’s about brand extension," Birch told Fairfax Media. "So how do you broaden your audience set? I started to think about esports as another derivative of what Collingwood, for example, are doing with men's teams, a women's team and a netball team. Why couldn't you think about an esports team to continue to broaden your appeal as a brand to a bigger audience, which then allows you to do many things with growth and commercialisation?" According to a YouGov report, esports is estimated to be worth $US745 million globally to go with an audience of 385 million in 2017. About 15 per cent of Australians are “engaged with esports” on some level, the report found. Hundreds of thousands of people tune in daily on televisions, but more so personal computers and smartphones, to watch esports tournaments, players training and other esports content. The AFL wants its brands in that space. "It's really difficult to get hold of the 14-to-35 year old predominantly male audience group," Birch said. "Esports is there, but also broadening. We generally find between 14 and 21 there is a drop-off in support or 'fandom' in football.

"This is an opportunity to put our brand in a different format into something they may consume." Birch also said the AFL and its clubs could teach the esports industry about professionalism, high performance and sporting governance while esports can teach the AFL and its clubs about cutting edge digital fan engagement. This is a key pillar of the AFL and Riot Games partnership. "Around 75 per cent of millennials use ad blockers," he said. "Then 71 per cent have Netflix, no free-to-air commercials and content when they want it. Most don't listen to the radio. And many earn good money. So how does advertising reach that audience? Esports is the vehicle." The FNATIC Rainbox Six Siege team, made up of Australians, compete in the United States. But what does the esports industry think about traditional sport wedging its way into esports? The AFL and its clubs are not the first or only to do this. Football Federation Australia has an "E-League", NBA basketball franchises its own esports teams and players, as do NFL teams and European soccer clubs.

Carlo La Civita, star League of Legends player for the Bombers, said Essendon had been fantastic for him. "It's been great having access to the facilities and dietitians and gym and basically it is nice to get the gaming out of our team house and into a facility like The Hangar," La Civita said. "Going to work outside of the house and also not worrying about needing a day job is brilliant. Flying to LA for boot camp is nice, too, and Essendon have a lot of sponsors for us, and being backed by a big organisation with a lot of respect and resources gives us confidence." La Civita and his team leave their team house at 9.30am. They eat at Essendon's training base in Tullamarine, then go to the club gym. Then they train by playing their game against other teams online for about four hours. Next it might be more gym, or a dietitian visit or a talk from a neuroscience expert, followed by a chef-prepared meal back at the team house around 7pm. This is the kind of professionalism that can help Australian teams eventually make it overseas, where the industry in North and South America and Europe, plus parts of Asia, is way ahead of Australia, say industry figures. Ironically it might be easier for footy brands to break into Asia via esports than it would be through playing the actual game of Australian rules football. Big show: Despite big crowds in person for major events, most esports viewing occurs online. Credit:Uriel Espinoza/ESL

Australian team FNATIC, formerly known as MindFreak, know how crucial investment is to performing on the world stage. They were bought by global esports giant FNATIC earlier this year and recently played their Rainbow Six Siege game in a tournament in Atlantic City, United States to a massive global and live audience. Their recent rise shows the AFL is getting involved in esports just as the industry in Australia threatens to rapidly catch up with the rest of the world. "FNATIC in eSports is a household name," coach and team manager Jayden Saunders told Fairfax Media. "It's not something that usually happens in Australia or we even dream of. Then to be picked up by FNATIC and have the 24/7 access to them for help, and represent them through Australia and the world is huge. "Australia is usually behind in everything, but in esports we are catching up. It is starting to have quite a presence in our region and for this investment to happen now it will help our country grow as a destination for esports. It means a lot for us as a country. It shows there is a lot of talent here." Francois Xavier Deniele is eSports director for Rainbow Six's publisher, Ubisoft. He told Fairfax Media that investment in the industry keeps growing and that he believed Australia, Asia and the Pacific had strong potential. The area was important to him and Ubisoft, he said, but he also was yet fully convinced of how traditional sports could make a lasting impact on esports.