The Esports Team and Pro-Gamers: Fan Favorites That Must Evolve to Move Beyond Survival Mode
Esports teams assemble professional rosters (pro-gamers) and participate in tournaments across multiple esports titles, earning recognition and prize. They also build up a community, producing content through social media such as Discord to engage with fans globally. They also need to raise funding to cover player salaries and team operations. They follow the business model of traditional sports with their revenue streams including prize money, sponsorships, merchandise sales, advertising, and broadcast rights. Despite the surging popularity of esports, not much progress has been made on the business model. Sponsorship deals remain a primary revenue source with 45%-90%, leveraging the extensive fan base and positioning esports teams as effective channels for sponsors to deliver value on a global scale. However, this business model is not sustainable, and we will cover how esports team are experimenting different business model with new revenue streams outside traditional sports in later blog.
The pro gamers are high-skilled, elite-level gamers who participate in league tournaments. They are the “superstar” in the esports ecosystem. Due to the highly competitive nature of the esport, elite-players are rewarded handsomely. The ability to win titles, give them significant negotiating power for demanding high wages. The high international labor mobility of the player further contributes to the upward trend in salaries. For example, many Korean League of Legends players are recruited in US, Europe, and China. Outside the competitive scene, pro gamers have a strong influence over the fans. They build up a loyal fan base through streaming platforms and social media(although most of the pro-gamers are quite shy ^_^). According to the research, fans are more loyal to gamers than teams, they want to see their favorite player playing competitive games, that is what make esports entertainment appealing and increase its popularity. It's important to note that the existing system benefits only elite players and often fails to support the majority. It's a high-stress profession characterized by significant volatility in career stability and financial security.
Most of the contracts between Esports teams and pro-gamers are one year. Although it doesn’t provide much stability for pro-gamers, especially when the spots are limited, it does give more exposure for Esports teams as new pro-gamers will bring their fan base with them.
