Club Mgmt. Bombers eSports - Licence sold to Pentanet.GG - 2/11

[Wahooti Fandango]

Does wada cover esports?

Asking for a friend.

Cheetos and Mountain Dew are prohibited substances.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Cheetos and Mountain Dew are prohibited substances.

They are just masking agents for weed, surely

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

As some other poster alerted to, what we should really be questioning the club about investments is in pokies.

 

[Godzke]

Newsflash (23rd September 2068): Essendon Football Club rebrands as Essendon Gaming Club
Newsflash (14th January 2089): Essendon Gaming Club cuts football division

 

[Jade]

Newsflash (23rd September 2068): Essendon Football Club rebrands as Essendon Gaming Club
Newsflash (14th January 2089): Essendon Gaming Club cuts football division

You think?

 

[mike14]

As some other poster alerted to, what we should really be questioning the club about investments is in pokies.

Maybe that's their end game; to make enough revenue with esports to cut away the pokies.

 

[Whispering_Jack]

You think?

Surely a pisstake!

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Maybe that's their end game; to make enough revenue with esports to cut away the pokies.

Well we’re going to be in pokies for a lot more years then. Esports is going to take a while to start making money for us and even then I don’t think it’ll make the millions pokies has for a decade or so.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Say what you like, and I’m happy to be wrong, but I just see the whole thing as a fad.

Yes, it’s a genuine sport and genuine competition. People who believe it’s going to be some world-changing mega industry are wrong though imo. It’s just new, hence the attention.

I don’t think it’s going away, but I think it’ll just settle into being another niche sport like many others. I highly doubt it’s going to be a huge money spinner. No sports in Australia are huge money spinners other than footy, rugby league and (sometimes) cricket. Every other sport largely struggles for attention and relevance.

I’m not worried or anything because I don’t think it’ll cost us much money etc, but in the end I think we’ll wonder what the hell we’re doing in it. The links to our core business are tenuous and that’s barely ever the basis for hugely successful expansion.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Say what you like, and I’m happy to be wrong, but I just see the whole thing as a fad.

Yes, it’s a genuine sport and genuine competition. People who believe it’s going to be some world-changing mega industry are wrong though imo. It’s just new, hence the attention.

I don’t think it’s going away, but I think it’ll just settle into being another niche sport like many others. I highly doubt it’s going to be a huge money spinner. No sports in Australia are huge money spinners other than footy, rugby league and (sometimes) cricket. Every other sport largely struggles for attention and relevance.

I’m not worried or anything because I don’t think it’ll cost us much money etc, but in the end I think we’ll wonder what the hell we’re doing in it. The links to our core business are tenuous and that’s barely ever the basis for hugely successful expansion.

valid points all.

However it is by a very very large margin the fastest growing sporting product in the world. Essendon getting in first (at least getting in properly first) is going to most likely be considered visionary in a decade from now, and just you all watch every other club in the league scramble to somehow get a piece of the pie

 

[PressureCooker]

There is 6 degrees of devolution at play here...

Say peak human is to play the sport

Rung down is to watch people play the sport at the ground

Rung down is to watch the sport on your couch on tv

Rung down is to play a video game pretending you are playing the sport

Rung down is to watch people play a video game pretending to play a sport

Rung down is to watch from your couch on tv people watching people pretending to play a sport.

We have gone slot of rungs down in a short time.

Rung down is to log on to a fan forum to discuss people watching from their couch on tv people watching people pretending to play a sport.

What have we become?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

valid points all.

However it is by a very very large margin the fastest growing sporting product in the world. Essendon getting in first (at least getting in properly first) is going to most likely be considered visionary in a decade from now, and just you all watch every other club in the league scramble to somehow get a piece of the pie

That’s because it’s new and coming off no base. Question is where does it end up?

Even if it happened to become as big as say, the A League, NBL or ANZ Netball - which in itself would be an enormous success story for a new sport, and at this stage unlikely - what does that mean it contributes to us? Not much.

 

[Jade]

That’s because it’s new and coming off no base. Question is where does it end up?

Even if it happened to become as big as say, the A League, NBL or ANZ Netball - which in itself would be an enormous success story for a new sport, and at this stage unlikely - what does that mean it contributes to us? Not much.

Yeah not much. Just a profitable asset, access to a new demographic, expertise in another field...

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Yeah not much. Just a profitable asset, access to a new demographic, expertise in another field...

Profitable?

 

[BrunoV]

Newsflash (23rd September 2068): Essendon Football Club rebrands as Essendon Gaming Club
Newsflash (14th January 2089): Essendon Gaming Club cuts football division

You think?

From what I can tell, the problem with using a relativist approach to inform decision making 'now' is that it tends to incorporate the assumption that the existing structure will stay the same (so that we'll be looking at the same argument the same way in the future) primarily because the approach has no regard for history.

Surely you cannot assume that in 50 years time, with this potentially becoming an equal contributor to the club, that decision makers will view the football teams as the core product that needs protecting. Why would they if they had been brought up with esports?

Essendon having an esports team now is not really something that I feel overly passionate about because I don't think that it will make any difference to what is to come but if it matters to you now, I think that you should probably operate on the assumption that Godzke's scenario is more likely than not.

 

[calyam]

Football clubs don't have a great history of investing in other sports or creating alternative revenue streams (pokies excepted). Companies in general don't have a great history of diversifying their operations. Most are capable of exceeding in the area they specialise in but struggle to succeed in a new industry that requires different skills. The Essendon football club knows football - although until recently we were pretty incompetent at running a football club - so its only reasonable to question whether the club has the expertise or is willing to make the investment to become a serious player in eSports.

I hope it works out and becomes a valuable revenue stream for the club that can then be recycled back into the football club. But I wouldn't be terribly surprised if our investment in eSports becomes a sideshow for a couple of years and then is quickly forgotten.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

How is this monetised? The same as other sports? Gates, broadcast, merchandise, etc?

 

[Lance Uppercut]

That’s because it’s new and coming off no base. Question is where does it end up?

Even if it happened to become as big as say, the A League, NBL or ANZ Netball - which in itself would be an enormous success story for a new sport, and at this stage unlikely - what does that mean it contributes to us? Not much.

the rationale is quite simple, and completely reasonable and understandable.

The entire point of the exercise is to penetrate a market that is incredibly difficult to access, particularly as mainstream sporting club. That is; young digital natives who have spent more time on an X Box than a footy field over the 10-20 years of their life. It's a delivery vehicle of the brand into a gigantic market that up until now it hasn't really been able to get into.

It's a market that will continue to grow and take market share - the growth isn't solely due to the low base and it's sustainable beyond that.

Now, you can argue the toss as to the effectiveness of it if you like, but that's the rationale. Not to be a new A League or Netball team/league. It's about a demographic, not a sport per se. And it makes a lot of sense.

That's why I fundamentally disagree with the idea that co-branding is a bad idea. It's not that only Essendon fans will want to go for the team formerly known as Abyss. It's absolutely the other way around: that the legions of people who already have a connection to Abyss and teams like them will get an affinity for Essendon.

As I've argued, the attitude that "I don't get it so it's wrong" is just fundamentally ignorant. And I mean that respectfully, because I mean it quite literally. It's literally ignorant. It's not aimed at those people who think that. It's not even aimed at me, who "gets" esports. It's aimed at a massive under the line market that is difficult to penetrate via "traditional" means

 

[lamaros]

I do however highly suspect this will be a big, BIG win for the club.

Nah, it'll be a nothing, nothing, loss.

eSports is a big growing thing.

But Australian eSports is not, and will never be. It'd be like looking at Manchester United and then thinking that means buying a A League side will make you rich.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Nah, it'll be a nothing, nothing, loss.

lol, ok then.

Your foresight is extraordinary

 

[Lance Uppercut]

How is this monetised? The same as other sports? Gates, broadcast, merchandise, etc?

Twitch revenue would be much, much, much bigger than any gate takings. That essentially is the broadcast in many ways, if you aren't aware. There'd be others, in terms of big comps, but Twitch would be a major revenue mechanism.

As mentioned above, the branding is the critical part in terms of the Essendon Football Club. I'm sure there's revenue and profit as well, but it's market penetration over and above anything else

 

[lamaros]

lol, ok then.

Your foresight is extraordinary

It is, yes.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

the rationale is quite simple, and completely reasonable and understandable.

The entire point of the exercise is to penetrate a market that is incredibly difficult to access, particularly as mainstream sporting club. That is; young digital natives who have spent more time on an X Box than a footy field over the 10-20 years of their life. It's a delivery vehicle of the brand into a gigantic market that up until now it hasn't really been able to get into.

Now, you can argue the toss as to the effectiveness of it if you like, but that's the rationale. Not to be a new A League or Netball team/league. It's about a demographic, not a sport per se. And it makes a lot of sense.

That's why I fundamentally disagree with the idea that co-branding is a bad idea. It's not that only Essendon fans will want to go for the team formerly known as Abyss. It's absolutely the other way around: that the legions of people who already have a connection to Abyss and teams like them will get an affinity for Essendon.

As I've argued, the attitude that "I don't get it so it's wrong" is just fundamentally ignorant. And I mean that respectfully, but literally. It's literally ignorant. It's not aimed at those people who think that. It's not even aimed at me, who "gets" esports. It's aimed at a massive under the line market that is difficult to penetrate via "traditional" means

I never said it was wrong.

One thing I do find wrong, however, is the view of esports fans as some sort of other species. Young digital natives? They're normal young people with a range of interests. To suggest they've never even seen footy or Essendon and will become supporters of Essendon through the esports team is pretty far-fetched, I think.

AFL marketing to young people, the so-called "young digital natives", is actually very good, not that it couldn't be improved. Their social media presence is very strong, online broadcasting is very good compared to other sports, s**t they even launched an AFL game last year... which is just a starting point, but not long ago people were saying even that would never happen.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

I never said it was wrong.

One thing I do find wrong, however, is the view of esports fans as some sort of other species. Young digital natives? They're normal young people with a range of interests. To suggest they've never even seen footy or Essendon and will become supporters of Essendon through the esports team is pretty far-fetched, I think.

AFL marketing to young people, the so-called "young digital natives", is actually very good, not that it couldn't be improved. Their social media presence is very strong, online broadcasting is very good compared to other sports, s**t they even launched an AFL game last year... which is just a starting point, but not long ago people were saying even that would never happen.

yeah but I would argue that no one campaign is all encompassing. It all works together. And if I'm a kid who is way more into League of Legends than Australian Football League, and I follow the team formerly known as Abyss; and they have a footy team that's part of them, then aren't I more likely to take an interest in that footy team than any other should I start getting interested in sport and footy generally? Sure, I might just revert back to the team my old man followed, that's assuming he even followed one, but all my mates are Abyss/Essendon fans as well and they're starting to take an interest too. There'd be a multitude of scenarios which all boil down to the same thing: brand awareness.

Marketing works. That's why companies do it. And it's worth pointing out that the top streamer on Twitch has 937 Million channel views, and has 2.6 million followers. Hell, the 10th top streamer has 1.8 million followers. Many of these people give them money out of their own pocket for the privilege of watching them.

FWIW I think AFL does a pretty good job of marketing too, but that's not the same thing as lifestyle which is what Twitch is; and in any case this is Essendon, not AFL. And Essendon are only ever really preaching to the converted.

Basically it comes down to the fact that a calculation has been made that for the money invested in terms of purchase price and ongoing costs of recruiting, training etc, marketing etc; that there will be a significant ROI in both financial and brand terms.

Now, if people don't agree with that assessment, fine. Even better if it's explained why they don't, and it's an opinion formed on actual facts rather than feelings. But it seems a pretty sound strategy to me

 

[baz_machine]

What where the 2km time trials of the new eSports recruits?