Ryan Goodrich
For many traditional sports fans, the Coronavirus epidemic has been especially hard. Many sporting events are canceled indefinitely while waiting for the viral outbreak to curb. Rather than leaving many fans with nothing to watch, some individuals are looking to esports as an outlet. For example, FIFA 20 is proving to be a popular title to stream for hardcore football fans. That’s as close as we’re likely to get to traditional soccer for a time.
Turning to FIFA 20 to pass the time
On March 21, Cormac “Doolsta” Dooley played a two-match series against Columbus Crew’s Graham “SKaMzZ1992” Ellix. Were it not for the social distancing, Doolsta should have been at SxSW in Austin, Texas, to defend his 2019 eMSL Cup title while representing as Nashville SC’s esports athlete. Said Doolsta, “The fans really want to see Nashville be involved with soccer, albeit if that means esports. They want to see me play a bit. [Nashville] are looking at me to push out content since I’m in the best position to produce it.”
Winning the two matches with scores of 6-2 and 3-1 helped many people take the edge off. But Doolsta and SKaMzZ1992 weren’t the only ones playing FIFA 20 this weekend. MLS clubs, which have invested in esports for a number of years, are now pushing their gamers into the limelight. In the absence of traditional sports, esports is now an in-demand type of media. Additional matches took place on March 21, where the New England Revolution streamed a game against Real Salt Lake (a tough 3-2 loss). They even went so far as to produce a pregame and postgame show, as well as a highlights package. They did the same thing the week before when their pro, John “JKO1707” Oliveira, faced off against the Chicago Fire’s Enrique “TheBITW7” Espinoza in a mix-week matchup.
The opportunity presented by esports
Cathal Conlon, the Revolution’s vice president of marketing and community relations is looking for ways to give fans what they want during this difficult time. The first step was working with league officials and other teams to determine an angle to support the CDC’s message and public health and safety guidelines.
“There is a little bit of making it up as you go along,” Conlon said. “We had to think about the service we provide to our fans. We’re a sports team. Sports have always been a relief and a distraction from the news cycle. We wanted to find a way to provide an outlet for our fans but without doing anything that was disrespectful.”
Streaming games and treating them like a real match “was a way for us to do it without having to say ‘don’t worry about what’s going on,'” he said. “At 1:30 on Sunday, you should have been with the Revs, and we’re going to give you that opportunity to do so if you want.”
The fans responded positively to this, so Conlon believes that they and other MLS teams will continue to stream games. The key is to provide some level of normalcy in a period of uncertainty. While fans won’t be able to attend events in the usual team stadiums, they can still tune in on Twitch and “partake in a Revolution soccer experience.”
Continuing to stream esports
The shutdown of traditional sports has presented many teams with an opportunity to reach a whole new audience. Doolsta said, “A lot of guys in the eMLS and FIFA scene who never really have streamed before, they are all starting to stream because they view it as a great opportunity to build their brand. We know that people are out there, looking for something to watch related to the sport. We can give them that. Compared to other sports, esports have a huge opportunity to grow.”
This isn’t new to those of us already in the esports sector. But for organizations that have relied more on traditional sports, this is proving to be a real eye opener. The world of esports is growing and connecting with fans in ways that traditional sports just can’t match.
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