While MLS’s biggest stars celebrated the season’s midpoint in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium earlier this month, roughly a mile away some of the league’s best gamers effectively wrapped up MLS’s first “season” of its esports endeavor, eMLS.
The competition, known as the eMLS All-Star Challenge, brought together eight eMLS club representatives as well as popular FIFA players, Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka and former MLS star Landon Donovan, and it built on the early success of eMLS, which launched in January. The tournament, which was streamed on Twitch, peaked at more than 52,000 viewers, making it one of the most watched sports video game streams on the platform thus far this year. That figure also represents a more than 75 percent increase compared to the peak viewership for eMLS’s first competition, eMLS Cup, which was held in April. The event was also open to the public, with about 100 people in attendance.
While there is some eMLS programming planned for MLS’s “Rivalry Week” later this month, the league’s esports efforts will ramp up upon the release of EA Sports’ “FIFA 19” on Sept. 28, the game on which it’s based.
James Ruth, MLS senior director of properties, who oversees eMLS, said that there will be an eMLS launch event alongside the game’s release. In addition to another tournament next spring, there will be an eMLS league as well that will run during the MLS offseason this winter.
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While four of the 23 MLS teams — Atlanta United, D.C. United, LAFC and Real Salt Lake — have not yet participated in eMLS, Ruth said he was “bullish” on their entry following the release of “FIFA 19,” as well as by MLS expansion club FC Cincinnati, which will join the league next year.
Ruth said the goal is to further expand eMLS’s reach with more events and programming, especially around the players.
“Our core component is going to be our elite competitions between our eMLS players, but we want to do more crossover events like [the All-Star Challenge],” Ruth said. “We want to blur the lines between traditional soccer and digital soccer.”
MLS recently hired Bion West, who will assist Ruth in managing the esports efforts. Other MLS departments, such as its properties and events team, have also become more deeply involved. Engine Shop is the lead agency for all of MLS’s esports efforts. Ruth declined to comment on the league’s investment into this space thus far, but noted he feels this is a source of future growth.
MLS’s increased focus on esports mirrors the growth of competitive FIFA globally, an initiative being pushed heavily by both EA Sports and soccer’s governing body. Earlier this month, the first eWorld Cup champion was crowned, part of a broadened competitive platform launched last year. Alexander Betancourt, who plays for Sporting Kansas City, was the lone eMLS representative in the 32-player field in London.
Todd Sitrin, senior vice president and GM of Competitive Gaming at EA, said the past 12 months have been a “landmark year” for FIFA esports, something that the publisher is looking to cultivate further with the release of the new game.
“This is a game that is really built for a mass audience and is highly accessible as an esport, as people around the world already know the rules, players and the game,” Sitrin said, noting that more than 20 million people competed in open qualifiers to make it to the eWorld Cup. “As more investment comes into the game from other football leagues and organizations, the ecosystem around the game is only going to get better and bigger.”
Christian Volk, FIFA’s head of digital marketing and who helps oversee its esports efforts, said that with the newly launched global format, the organization expects more and more investment and activity akin to eMLS from other leagues around the world, as well as by third parties. “There is a professionalization of the whole FIFA esports ecosystem that is very easy to understand and is a safe environment for the traditional football industry and outsiders; we expect them to join in and bring further growth.”
Ruth noted that in North America, the growth of competitive FIFA in the last year has been impressive, something he expects to be further bolstered in the next 12 months. “This ecosystem is going to grow up a lot more next year,” he said.
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