Canucks ownership purchases eSports team

[member 105785]

Report: Vancouver franchise coming to Overwatch League - Sportsnet.ca

Aquillinis have purchased an expansion slot for the 2nd season of Overwatch league

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[Burke the Legend]

What the hell, 35-60 million?? What are the revenues on these things? This is a worse deal than a MLS franchise. I guess the sports bubble isn't even close to popping. Good news for the next NHL TV contract.

 

[member 105785]

the revenue is insanely high and the payroll is insanely low, lowest player salary is 80k and Sinatra, one of the best players is paid the highest at 150k

 

[canuckfan75]

Does any know how this will make $$$$

 

[Burke the Legend]

the revenue is insanely high and the payroll is insanely low, lowest player salary is 80k and Sinatra, one of the best players is paid the highest at 150k

Not seeing where "insanely high" revenues come from.

 

[Captain Bowie]

Not seeing where "insanely high" revenues come from.

Mostly from advertising and sponsorships. But yeah, the money is there. Do a quick search and you'll find some info on it.

I believe Kroenke (Avs owner) already has an esports team as well.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

E sports is exploding worldwide so that is a great investment.

 

[member 105785]

Not seeing where "insanely high" revenues come from.

Tons of ad revenue, Toyota, Sour Patch, Omen, Intel, and T-Mobile all partner with OWL and the OW World Cup

Other notable OWL team owners are Kraft Group (New England Patriots), Sterling V.C. (sister company of the Mets), Comcast Spectacor (owner of Flyers), and Kroenke (owner of Arsenal, Rams, Nuggets and Avs)

 

[member 105785]

Does any know how this will make $$$$

ad revenue and ticket sales, the Aquilini investment group owns Rogers Arena so they will get all the profits from game ticket sales, also many OWL pros are also Twitch streamers who have large followings and will buy their team jerseys. There are plenty of large Overwatch streamers who will find themselves without teams this season including Seagull (streams for 10k people at all times), xQc (has 16k subs who pay $5 a month, plays in front of 8k viewers, vital member of team Canada who is a top 4 OW World Cup team, won last years World Cup MVP award), Aimbot Calvin (5k viewers at once, 5k subs, has 6 accounts all top 500 all at the same time, speaks Korean)

 

[canuckfan75]

Good write up on this venture. By buying this Franchise it also gives the Canucks the exclusive rights to Washington and Oregon State that is a market of 16.6 million people. expect the team to be named Pacific Northwest something?

Vancouver seen as fertile ground for expansion Overwatch League franchise

 

[Grub]

This does not come as a surprise. Rogers Arena just hosted the International for Dota 2 and I think the Aquilini's are seeing that there is potential for E-sports now.

 

[Hivemind]

ad revenue and ticket sales, the Aquilini investment group owns Rogers Arena so they will get all the profits from game ticket sales, also many OWL pros are also Twitch streamers who have large followings and will buy their team jerseys. There are plenty of large Overwatch streamers who will find themselves without teams this season including Seagull (streams for 10k people at all times), xQc (has 16k subs who pay $5 a month, plays in front of 8k viewers, vital member of team Canada who is a top 4 OW World Cup team, won last years World Cup MVP award), Aimbot Calvin (5k viewers at once, 5k subs, has 6 accounts all top 500 all at the same time, speaks Korean)

Approximiately 0% chance that any matches are held at Rogers Arena in the near future. Further still, there would almost certainly be revenue sharing between the league and the franchise on ticket revenue.

Season 2 will still be played at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank. Only the grand finals were played in a full-sized arena.
Season 3 is targeted to have teams play in their hometowns, but the venues will be much smaller than full-sized arenas.

Claiming Twitch streams as revenue is also rather dubious. The bulk of Twitch viewers are doing so for free (or ads). While subs and donations exist, an agreement would have to be enterred between the streamer and the organization if the organization wants a cut of the streamers' revenue. In many cases, it's more profitable to stream instead of joining an eSports organization. The very examples you cite are proof of this, with Seagull retiring from OWL to pursue full-time streaming, and xQc getting fired from hiw OWL team because of his stream antics and inabilitiy to focus on OWL while maintaining a stream schedule.

 

[greasysnapper]

The only thing I don't like about all of these publisher leagues is they've got an expiry and are so limited. It's not like MLG in that there's multiple games being played and you can just rotate games in and out. What happens when no one cares about Overwatch, is the league done? A 30-60 mil investment is going to take some time to recoup.

While it's still popular, Overwatch is on the decline. Player numbers dropped, it's not featured on Twitch's homepage. I don't think it's crazy to spend millions on a e-sports team. I think it's smart but I think this was the wrong horse to bet on.

 

[mouser]

Yeah, there’s a lot of money in eSports. I’m not confident starting out with a $30m+ entry fee is a path to profitability though. That’s a heck of a lot of investment to recoup. And the eSports market can be fickle and changing quickly.

I have to question if they wouldn’t be better off just sponsoring teams vs, owning one. Consider it advertising.

 

[powerstuck]

Does any know how this will make $$$$

It's slowly (kinda) reaching North America, but in Asia it's absolutely hectic. In USA, you can sell out a 80k stadium for an NHL football match once a week. In SKorea, China...you can sell out 10 80k stadiums for esports, 7 days a week.

 

[Hivemind]

Yeah, there’s a lot of money in eSports. I’m not confident starting out with a $30m+ entry fee is a path to profitability though. That’s a heck of a lot of investment to recoup. And the eSports market can be fickle and changing quickly.

I have to question if they wouldn’t be better off just sponsoring teams vs, owning one. Consider it advertising.

They were $30M franchise costs for the season 1 (2018) participants. Vancouver (plus Atlanta, DC, Toronto, Paris, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Chengdu) is buying in for the 2019 season (season 2). The rumored buy-in price for season 2 is in the neighborhood of $60M. While what mechanisms exist for revenue sharing between the league and franchises are still unknown to the general public, that sort of rapid increase in franchise valuation is likely part of what is attracting ownership groups. The season 1 franchises have basically doubled their value by being early adopters.

The only thing I don't like about all of these publisher leagues is they've got an expiry and are so limited. It's not like MLG in that there's multiple games being played and you can just rotate games in and out. What happens when no one cares about Overwatch, is the league done? A 30-60 mil investment is going to take some time to recoup.

While it's still popular, Overwatch is on the decline. Player numbers dropped, it's not featured on Twitch's homepage. I don't think it's crazy to spend millions on a e-sports team. I think it's smart but I think this was the wrong horse to bet on.

They're betting on a geographically-based eSports league more than they're betting on Overwatch specifically. The player base of the game is more of a concern for Blizzard than it would be for the franchise owners, as eSports can still command viewership even without huge player bases. The finals still drew an 861,000k+ average viewership per minute, with over 10.8M total viewers.

Furthermore, OWL is also getting more non-Twitch coverage than most other eSports tournaments. Specifically they signed deals with Disney/ESPN/ABC for the season 1 finals that will extend onwards to season 2 in general.

 

[member 105785]

Approximiately 0% chance that any matches are held at Rogers Arena in the near future. Further still, there would almost certainly be revenue sharing between the league and the franchise on ticket revenue.

Season 2 will still be played at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank. Only the grand finals were played in a full-sized arena.
Season 3 is targeted to have teams play in their hometowns, but the venues will be much smaller than full-sized arenas.

Claiming Twitch streams as revenue is also rather dubious. The bulk of Twitch viewers are doing so for free (or ads). While subs and donations exist, an agreement would have to be enterred between the streamer and the organization if the organization wants a cut of the streamers' revenue. In many cases, it's more profitable to stream instead of joining an eSports organization. The very examples you cite are proof of this, with Seagull retiring from OWL to pursue full-time streaming, and xQc getting fired from hiw OWL team because of his stream antics and inabilitiy to focus on OWL while maintaining a stream schedule.

Aquas own Rogers Arena, why would they pay to rent out another arena for games when they have theirs for free? and get profit on it?

 

[Breakers]

Chump change for Aqua Man.

I mean the 26,000 square foot summer cottage he is currently building in LA is probably worth more than what they paid for this franchise e-sports thing.

 

[Hivemind]

Aquas own Rogers Arena, why would they pay to rent out another arena for games when they have theirs for free? and get profit on it?

Because operating a building the size of Rogers Arena costs money. You have to pay another day of work for the staff and another day of full power for the building. Not to mention any set-up and tear-down costs. It would almost certainly lose money to host an event with such low attendance in Rogers Arena. They'll use a more suitably sized venue.

 

[member 105785]

Because operating a building the size of Rogers Arena costs money. You have to pay another day of work for the staff and another day of full power for the building. Not to mention any set-up and tear-down costs. It would almost certainly lose money to host an event with such low attendance in Rogers Arena. They'll use a more suitably sized venue.

You don't have to pay for enough employees for a 20k person event, they wouldn't employ the same number of security guards or concession stand workers if it were a Canucks game. Just open a quarter of the concession stands and only sell out the floor for standing on

 

[LeHab]

You don't have to pay for enough employees for a 20k person event, they wouldn't employ the same number of security guards or concession stand workers if it were a Canucks game. Just open a quarter of the concession stands and only sell out the floor for standing on

Smallest configuration is reported as 5 500 up to 18 000.: Rogers Arena

Please Note: The rental rate for Rogers Arena is minimum $20,000 vs. 15% of the Net Box Office Receipts (net of HST and Service Fees). As well, House Expenses include 5.5 hour ca; beginning 30-minutes prior to doors

Rates for various Arena services are here: https://rogersarena.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Facility_Rates_Guide_Sept16.pdf

 

[Albatros]

E sports is exploding worldwide so that is a great investment.

In principle involvement is a great idea, but the OWL is nowhere near as established as even the MLS so that ~50 million for the right to be there is still pretty steep.

 

[Hivemind]

You don't have to pay for enough employees for a 20k person event, they wouldn't employ the same number of security guards or concession stand workers if it were a Canucks game. Just open a quarter of the concession stands and only sell out the floor for standing on

You still need to cover all entrances, and likely have to have security patrolling the upper bowl to prevent people from sitting where they shouldn't.
You also need to pay for the electricity (namely the climate control) for the entire building, regardless of how many people are sitting in it.

Trust me, it's not worth having small-scale events in gigantic stadiums.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

In principle involvement is a great idea, but the OWL is nowhere near as established as even the MLS so that ~50 million for the right to be there is still pretty steep.

Its the potential. Gaming industry is a billion dollar industry only getting bigger by the day.

 

[Albatros]

Sure, but you don't really know what leagues will be around in a few years time.