For the past 10 weeks, Turner Sports and WME|IMG have broadcast ELeague, their professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league, on TBS. It has led to the final four, and several hundred people have gathered in Atlanta this weekend to watch the teams face off for a chance at the $390,000 first prize and the inaugural ELeague season trophy.
Though the crowd is small in comparison to many esports events, an average of hundreds of thousands have been watching at home.
The path that led us to the Season 1 ELeague finals started with WME|IMG's acquisition of management agency Global Esports Management (GEM). That partnership fostered the creation of a televised esports league, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive being the game of choice. It has been a challenge teaching non-esports broadcasters and businesspeople about this unique industry, but ELeague's general manager, Christina Alejandre, says it has also been quite an amazing journey.
"I don't mean to sound very Pollyanna, like everything's groovy, but it actually has been very fantastic," she says. "The team [at Turner Sports], even though they don't come from a traditional esports background, come from a sports background. We have a select few on my team that have decent esports backgrounds. Everybody is so willing and open to learn about esports and what's right for esports."
Alejandre's role is the latest in a long career of gaming and interactive media. She has held positions at Viacom and its Nickelodeon and Paramount properties, as well as Warner Bros. and Turbine. But her transition to full-on esports came during six months in 2015-16, when she worked as a consultant for one of the industry's biggest tournament organizers, ESL. She then joined Turner and ELeague in March, a month before the league began.
"I think there are a lot of people who used to work for small esports companies, and [who are] maybe not used to not necessarily the politics, but the different dynamics involved in working for such a big company," she explains about the transition. "[When] I came over to Turner Sports, it was great. I was able to use my knowledge in esports, I was using my knowledge of video games, my knowledge of working for big companies, and really immersed myself into the company. I think it all ended well."
She says that when she first joined ELeague, the Turner Sports team was open to feedback and listened to her and her staff. Among that staff was fellow recent Turner hire Richard Lewis, a veteran esports journalist who converted to desk, hosting and editing for Turner's esports endeavors.
"There were some designs that [the Turner Sports team] just didn't understand, [like how players'] desks facing each other might impact competitive integrity, because you can see a flashbang in the other team's face. [They would say], 'Oh we didn't think about that,'" Alejandre says. "In normal productions, they don't have to think about the noise always going outward and not going back to the players because you don't want the players to hear what the casters are saying.
"They were very open to it all; no one was defensive or like, 'No, no, no, we have to make this awesome for sports or production.' The first priority was competitive integrity."
But ELeague, despite great reception overall, went under heavy fire for a ruling involving league teams SK Gaming and Luminosity Gaming. Both organizations, and the Brazilian and Danish players who represented them, were booted from the league after a long dispute over roster changes in which Luminosity's players signed with SK. The controversy even involved a petition signed by other teams to prevent what they saw as improper action by the league.
Luminosity & SK Gaming are no longer eligible to compete in our first season due to roster changes that do not comply with @EL rules
- Min-Sik Ko (@minsikko) July 6, 2016
ELeague managed to stay afloat despite the turmoil that surrounded that situation. Alejandre says that's because of the experience of Turner Sports.
"We treat esports and ELeague as a traditional sport in that sense," she says. "We had a clear rule set, we stuck to the rule set, we made a decision.
"Look, I am a huge fan of the SK Gaming roster and the other team that was affected. I would've loved to have them compete, right? But much like any other traditional sport, even if it's the top team or top player, they have to adhere to the rules, and if they don't adhere to the rules, there are going to be consequences. I think that's why we didn't fumble, because we stood by the letter of the rules; we didn't make exceptions."
Season 1 might not be finished yet, but ELeague is already looking toward a bigger and better future. It recently announced a new venture in Overwatch, in partnership with FACEIT. After the Overwatch Open finishes in September, there will be a second season of ELeague. The second season will be shorter than Season 1 due to feedback on the first season's length, as reported by the Daily Dot. Alejandre says the main goal is to improve for the future.
"We're constantly trying to get better, innovate and evolve," she says. "So if I say, 'No, everything was perfect, everything was fine,' that'd be a load of bull. You know it, and I know it.
"One of the lessons we learned is that the season was too long; we're looking to shorten next season. That's one of the more key learnings. Then other things are just smaller tweaks and fixes as we go and [keep] constantly evolving."