The issue of governance was the focus of the final panel discussion at the '16 E-Sports Forum. Topics ranged from event scheduling to betting on e-sports to whether gamers want to be regulated at all. Gambling on e-sports, particularly in Europe and Asia, is an issue getting attention, and U.K.-based ESIC Integrity Commissioner Ian Smith said he is “primarily interested in cheating.” Smith: “Cheating to win is an issue that has been very well dealt with by the industry because it has a direct effect on game publishers. The other side of that is cheating to lose. ... There are three certainties in e-sports. First, e-sports is growing exponentially, and will continue to do so. Second, with commercial success and eyeball growth, gambling grows at exactly the same growth. The final certainly is that when someone offers a market for gambling, there is somebody else trying to manipulate that market and the only question is whether they are succeeding.”
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Professional E-Sports Association Commissioner Jason Katz discussed his new organization’s role, saying, “We represent an inflection point in the history of e-sports. The structure of it is very familiar to traditional sports, but new it is new to e-sports. That means owner-operated leagues where team organizations cut their own media deals and sponsorships, operate their own league and share the profits or revenue with players. It’s the way the NFL, MLB, NBA operate, but hasn't happened previously in e-sports. It allows for more stability and predictability in terms of when matches are going to be played, when players are going to be seen. You can count on PEA teams to be playing in a PEA league to be playing for the indefinite future. ... It’s something from the perspective of potential media partners or potential sponsors that we know is attractive and important.” Katz also noted the trying to create a league structure over all of e-sports would not likely be possible. Katz: “To talk about governing e-sports as a whole is like talking about governing sports as a whole.”
CONTROL ROOM: Smith also opined on whether e-sports wants to be controlled, saying, “One of the key reasons our organization came about was the lack of regulation and the lack of ability by the brand to protect against scandal and corruption. Top-level sponsors have been scared off by corruption in places like FIFA, the IAAF and with player issues like Maria Sharapova or NFL players beating their wives. All of these things have made for a scary brand-protection environment.” But e-sports team Immortals CEO Noah Winston said of bringing in “suits” to e-sports, “For the last five years, a lot of the overarching structure that was tried out eventually failed because it wasn't cognizant enough of the ground on which it was being built. One of the reasons I am excited about the PEA is that it gives people on the ground level the opportunity to have not just a say, but be the ultimate decision makers.”
PUBLISHING HOUSE: ESL VP/Pro Gaming Michael Blicharz said of the role of game publishers in governance, “They should take not an aggressive, but very hands-on role. At the end of the day, they are the ones with the lowest level of bias. ... Publishers benefit directly if the sport overall benefits. So I would say a closed league, similar to something like the NBA, is counterproductive to that goal, because you want to create as many part-time and full-time players as possible. A closed system with 10 or 20 teams directly limits that.”
