Dear Mr. DiGiovanni,



I recently read on Twitter that you are thinking of bringing Major League Gaming to Canada. My name is Conrad "QuantumPope" Janzen and should you decide to bring MLG to Canada, this article will show why it should take place in city of Vancouver, Canada.



Vancouver possesses all the ingredients to host a successful live tournament, especially for MLG. It can provide a great venue, easy transportation, a large e-sports audience, and the perfect geographical location. These assets make Vancouver a strong candidate to host an MLG Pro Circuit Tour.



If you’re looking for a venue, the Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC) meets all the needs for an event of this magnitude. Originally used as the Canadian Pavilion in the 1986 World's Fair, it has been established as a world class facility, especially during the 2010 Olympic Games. With MLG being such a large tournament, you would have the option of holding the event in the West Building (newer), the East Building (older), or both. The VCC hosts official suppliers on-site for all your needs, including AV, rigging and lighting, customs and shipping, housekeeping, and security services. Also, there are no internet concerns as the site can provide connections with speeds of up to 1GB per second. Over 13,000 hotel rooms are located within Vancouver’s compact downtown area, which can provide a sufficient amount of space for both players and spectators alike.



Transportation around Vancouver is streamlined and easy to use, with three ways to get downtown from the airport: buses, a 25 minute car drive, or the Skytrain. In 1986, Vancouver built the highly successful public transit system called Skytrain, which is an elevated platform train. In 2009 it added the Canada Line for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. It begins at the airport, leads to downtown Vancouver, and then to the suburbs. In the downtown core, almost everything is within a twenty minute walking distance and taxis are plentiful.



What about Vancouver itself? After the 2010 Olympic Games put Vancouver on the world stage, it has shown time and time again that it is in a place people want to be. One thing I noticed MLG was missing was more West Coast stops on its Pro Tour - more specifically the Pacific Northwest Area. Vancouver fills this niche perfectly. Many direct flights from Korea to Vancouver, as well as the rest of North America make this a convenient travel destination for players and teams. In addition to being a great location, it has some amazing attractions, beautiful scenery, and booming nightlife for people on their off-time. Vancouver also has some of the top technical crews in North America. This is attributed to its large film/television industry as well as the Olympics. This high level of experience and skill is unmatched by most other cities in North America and even the world.



The StarCraft e-sports scene is huge in Vancouver, and it includes what is arguably the largest amount of Grandmaster’s League players in a single area. Our Collegiate Star League (CSL) team from the University of British Columbia took first place last year with a stellar lineup and also holds the biggest StarCraft 2 Facebook group in Vancouver with 484 members at the time of writing. Vancouver Barcraft has become so big that it has been forced into a larger venue after the MLG Orlando Vancouver Barcraft location reached maximum capacity before the event had even started. Local tournaments happen almost monthly and are sponsored by companies such as Memory Express, Intel, Asus, Corsair, and Razer. These events bring everyone from big name players to community members to either play or watch. As a side note, there are also a few high-level League of Legends players, as well a number of retired Halo pros in the area. In my opinion, Vancouver is one of the best kept secrets in the eSports community.



Canada is lacking the involvement it needs from large scale organizations to bring more eSports into the country. A Pro Circuit stop exclusive to Vancouver would be a great way to make a splash in MLG's return to Canada. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 115 provides a strong argument for this. Because it was the first-ever major MMA event in Canada outside of Montreal, tickets sold out in a record of 30 minutes. Overall, I firmly believe that Vancouver is suited for MLG's current needs.



I am happy to say I will be attending MLG Providence as a spectator later this week. I understand that you are extremely busy, but if possible, I would be delighted to discuss the possibility of bringing MLG to Vancouver. If you are unable to meet, please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to meet in the future. I hope this article will convince you to look into Vancouver and perhaps bring an MLG event here one day.



Cheers,

Conrad "QuantumPope" Janzen



PS. This article was primarily made for MLG but I would love to see other tournaments brought to Vancouver like Intel Extreme Masters, and IGN Pro League.



A little about the author

I wrote this article because I am an avid eSports fan and want to see more large scale events come up to Canada, specifically Vancouver. I come from a film and television background, working in the Vancouver Film Industry as an Assistant Director, working on shows like The Killing, Supernatural, Once Upon A Time and Elysium. I have also been involved with a lot of locations work involving logistics and large scale organization on shows like Falling Skies, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Eureka. I also worked at IPL3 as one of the Floor Managers for the Qualifier Stage.



Vancouver/604 Fighting