Sport and

gamification

April 2020
Contents

3 Foreword
LFP and gamification

4 Game theory
The concept of gamification sits at the core of many of the most successful
fan engagement initiatives in sport. As digital delivery and consumption
become more sophisticated – and, in the current climate, more necessary –
it’s a concept that will be turned to by sports organisations the world over.

16 It’s in the game

The Esports Observer’s Graham Ashton charts how esports organisations
use gamification techniques not just in the fabric of the games themselves,
but for purposes as varied as talent scouting, community building, and fan
monetisation.

Credits

Publisher Sponsorship Director Photography

LEADERS Simon Thomlinson Getty Images

Editorial Director Contributor

James Emmett Graham Ashton

2
 Sport and gamification

LFP and gamification

F
or many years, data has become the most for all the best EA FIFA players. The next step is
valuable asset for any company operating to bring this event outside of France to enhance
in the sports industry. Knowing your fans, the brand awareness of Ligue 1 Conforama
engaging with your fans, interacting with your abroad.
fans and collecting fans data must be at the
core of your digital strategy. Turning data into From a broader perspective, LFP has
business insights and intelligence will certainly incorporated gamification at the core of its digital
be a key driver for rightsholders’ future growth strategy. In 2017, LFP entered into a partnership
and B2C strategies will shift. To fulfill this with the number one fantasy league in France,
Didier Quillot, objective, gamification, the process of adding Mon Petit Gazon (MPG). With close to a million
CEO, LFP games or game-like elements to something active users of the game, LFP collects through
(such as a task) to encourage participation, has this partnership a huge amount of data on Ligue
become a key element of digital strategies. 1 Conforama fans. Following this, LFP has built
Gaming, linked with incentives (such as tickets in-house gaming applications such as ‘pick your
or merchandise) boosts loyalty and introduces best XI’, ‘score predictor’, ‘fan quiz’ and casual
competitiveness between fans. arcade games to recruit new fans and generate
engagement on brain new LFP owned platforms.
Building fan engagement through gamification
Creating brand preference among younger
Esport is definitely a key part and has been audiences
growing rapidly in the past few years in term
of interest, audience and revenue. In 2016, LFP Last but not least, sports rightsholders operate
was the first football league to organize with a in a highly competitive environment. Beauty
formal esports league with the makers of the of the game is not enough, and you will need
FIFA video game, EA: the eLigue 1. This move creative content, smart digital activations and viral
enabled us to understand better the egaming gamification processes to stand out in an already
community, to help our clubs in engaging and saturated fan content feed. The first objective is to
developing into esports and more importantly create brand preference, then to attract younger
to enhance fan engagement with Ligue 1 audiences as we know for a fact that gamification is
Conforama and the clubs we represent. We very popular among generation Z. Thinking digital
are currently in the fourth eLigue 1 season and first, focusing on data collection, incorporating
we have over 100,000 players, meaning the gamification at the core will help the sports
eLigue 1 here in France is arguably the best rightholders building their next generation of fans.
FIFA competition, and certainly the one to win May the following report be your guide.

3
 Game theory

4
5
Game theory
The concept of gamification sits at the core of many of the most successful fan
engagement initiatives in sport. As digital delivery and consumption become more
sophisticated – and, in the current climate, more necessary – it’s a concept that will be
turned to by sports organisations the world over.

T
he more disparate sports fanbases become, the
more important it is to find things that bind them to FOR BETTER OR
the centre.
WORSE, THROUGH
Deployed in many aspects of teaching and positive
behavioural training, gamification has become a mainstay ITS WHIRL OF
of customer interaction in the digital age. It provides
impetus to many operating in the app economy, with NOTIFICATIONS, LIKES
daily streaks and accomplishments enticing users back to
everything from language learning and fitness products to AND SHARES, SOCIAL
audiobooks.
MEDIA HAS MADE A
When done effectively, offering the kind of incentives
that keep users engaged also supports insights that can GAME OF EVERYDAY
be used to refine future activities. Well-designed projects
with a strong sense of desired outcomes can take what is COMMUNICATION.
already known and fixed about an audience – such as ages,
genders, locations and other demographic information –
and maps that on to new data about how they respond to
gamified activities.

The concept of gamified marketing is hardly a new one.

Readers have bought print publications offering coupon-
based discounts for decades. McDonald’s, to take one
example, has encouraged seasonal loyalty through its
Happy Meal collectibles and Monopoly promotions. Sport’s
own high-end collectibles sector and the low-end market
for official stickers and trading cards have inspired other
forms of attachment.

Digital media and marketing have heightened the potential

of these initiatives, offering a reciprocal exchange with
fans that give brands and rights holders an opportunity to
forge a deeper, albeit more playful connection.

6
Sport and gamification

7
Digital communities
For better or worse, through its whirl of notifications, likes Incentives can also be introduced to bring useful data
and shares, social media has made a game of everyday into marketing campaigns. Prize draws and other offers
communication. This is true even of long-established can make fans readier to supply personal information and
platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but relatively newer details about their preferences.
services also encourage play with official IP – whether
that is brand marks as AR filters on Snapchat or TikTok’s Membership schemes are a familiar method for
eclectic music library. engendering attachment, not least when they reward
loyalty. In the online era, video games have shown
Adding more layers of interactivity can improve community how these concepts can be evolved. Dozens of brands,
activity further. Polls can be an especially powerful way of scores of competitions and hundreds of football clubs
driving interest across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, are represented in the EA Sports’ best-selling Fifa series,
while crowdsourced social media exercises can also be which has used its in-game Fifa Ultimate Team mode
particularly effective. In the early days of sport’s shutdown to ever greater effect. FUT incentivises players to stay
to combat the coronavirus pandemic, several social media involved with the online game throughout the year and
teams turned to gamification as a short-term means of personalise their experience by building their own side
filling the content gap. through purchases and rewards.

Norwich City and Southampton’s administrators played The game environment also offers two-way representation
an online game of noughts and crosses, with clubs like for partners – Adidas, for one, has introduced digital
Hull City, Bayer Leverkusen, Bristol City and Willem II versions of its jerseys that have subsequently found a real-
resorting to Connect Four. It was an improvisational way world release. In the first half of the current financial year,
to stimulate responses from fans and strike a lighter tone. revenues from FUT rose 40% to $716 million.

MEMBERSHIP
SCHEMES ARE A
FAMILIAR METHOD
FOR ENGENDERING
ATTACHMENT, NOT
LEAST WHEN THEY
REWARD LOYALTY.

8
Sport and gamification

9
Experiential games
Introducing games or game-like set-ups to public spaces as
a means of soliciting consumer feedback is common – with
supermarkets asking shoppers to drop tokens in a box to
weight charitable donations, for example, or buttons being
placed in common areas of airports to gather quick survey
information about staff performance.

For venue operators hoping to learn more about their

matchday crowds, gamified physical experiences can give
fans a good reason to stop and interact. At elite venues, 5G
capabilities are also giving rise to new opportunities.

10
 Sport and gamification

In the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys ran 5G experiences for For a period at the start of the NBA season, the Golden
fans at their AT&T Stadium home throughout the 2019 State Warriors teamed up with immersive facility operator
season. These included the chance to ‘pose with the pros’ Candytopia to build Hooptopia, an extensive temporary
on columns around the ground, recording a startlingly venue at Thrive City by the 2018 champions’ new Chase
seamless virtual video with visualisations of Cowboys Center home. Fans could buy $36 tickets to pose in specially
starters that could be shared with friends. Other augmented designed installations that recreated aspects of the life
reality innovations included a feature where fans could of a Warriors player, from an unveiling at the draft to a
record videos of themselves dancing virtually in the end championship champagne celebration. The expectation was
zone, and another where they could generate 36-foot 3D that many would upload the resulting, well-framed images
models of Dak Prescott and Ezekial Elliott on specially to Instagram.
provided Samsung mobile handsets. As well as adding to
the gameday experience, the activations had the benefit for Sometimes these activities can also serve a brand education
AT&T of showing off the potential of 5G networks. purpose. Chinese mobile payment giant Alipay is a long-
term sponsor of European football’s Uefa and its major
national team competitions, including next year’s delayed
pan-continental European Championship. Signed in 2018, the
partnership began in earnest with the inaugural Uefa Nations
League Finals in Portugal.

Ubiquitous throughout China, Alipay is comparatively little

known in Europe and is using its deal to build awareness
of its services and reinforce networks of retailers who use
them for mostly Chinese users. Still, it took the opportunity
in the fan zones last summer to create games that gave
European consumers a chance to try out its QR code-
based system and familiarise themselves with the concept.
That activation, in turn, has been rolled into a strategy of
building interactive ‘mini-programmes’ into Alipay’s mobile
‘super-app’.

11
Fantasy sports and betting
In the past couple of decades, fantasy sports has allowed Meanwhile, the appetite for fantasy sports remains:
rights holders and brands to retain the attention of fans in according to a survey by the FSGA, 87% of fantasy players
matches beyond those involving their teams, and in leagues in states with legal sports betting played the same or more
they would not otherwise follow at all. fantasy sports in 2019 than the previous year.

Official and unofficial fantasy leagues are a part of almost Wagering is an obvious if sometimes fraught route for
every major competition and at the top end, they remain rights holders towards more attentive interest in their
a vibrant growth sector. The global user base of the events. In recent years, not least as the American sports
Fantasy Premier League doubled to 6.3 million going into betting laws have been liberalised in one state after
the 2019/20 season, generating additional exposure for another, a succession of bodies have been investigating
sponsors of English football’s top flight and inspiring a how they can open up more touch points with
subculture of dedicated followers in the process. In the US, prospective bettors.
the Fantasy Sports Gaming Association (FSGA) reports that
there were 45.9 million players in 2019. The expansion of the sports betting market is also coming
at a time of extensive personalisation and diversity in the
Several rights holders have been enterprising in driving digital space. The huge increase in live data measurement
bettors towards legal sportsbooks since the Supreme Court and manipulation – marshalled by companies like
overturned the federal PASPA law that made sports betting Sportradar and Genius Sports with a presence across the
illegal nationally in 2018. The NBA, for example, introduced data, integrity and digital broadcast sectors – has led to a
money-free bets on some platforms in early 2019 to test and greater variety of betting options in a whole host of sports.
channel interest. The role of fantasy sports operators like Formula One will be working with its first betting partner,
FanDuel – now owned by European bookmaker Paddy Power 188Bet, once its season finally begins, with more to
Betfair – and DraftKings in laying the ground for a legitimate follow as part of a five-year arrangement with media and
sports betting culture should nevertheless not be overlooked. marketing agency Interregional Sports Group.

THE APPETITE FOR

FANTASY SPORTS
REMAINS: ACCORDING
TO A SURVEY BY
THE FSGA, 87% OF
FANTASY PLAYERS IN
STATES WITH LEGAL
SPORTS BETTING
PLAYED THE SAME
OR MORE FANTASY
SPORTS IN 2019 THAN
THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

12
 Sport and gamification

F1TV will not be offering live race odds but in the US, Just as there is heightened sensitivity around betting
OTT platforms are being cited as a way of serving betting promotions in Europe and other markets, there are some
audiences without imposing on those disinterested in reputational risks for organisations to be aware of as legal
it. Last May, FanDuel Group signed a deal with OTT betting emerges in the US. In August 2019 European video
internet television service fuboTV to make its odds and games watchdog PEGI released a statement saying it was
data available to viewers, not long after Caesar’s Palace ‘very aware’ of complaints about casino minigames in NBA
had reached an agreement with Turner Sports to produce 2K20 and that it accepted the imagery ‘may be too close for
gaming-related content for the B/R Live network. comfort for some people’ in a title cleared to play for all ages.

13
Interactive content and esports
Digital interfaces are making it possible to turn what were Gamifying on-demand video content theoretically provides a
passive experiences into interactive ones. In broadcasting, context in which distributors can learn more about audience
this has primarily meant giving people choices about tastes and behaviour, as well as adding replay value. That is
how they want to watch live sport and relive highlights – one reason why Netflix began experimenting in 2018 with
through a range of camera angles, for example, or better interactive storytelling through releases like Bandersnatch, an
integrations of data and other visualisations. entry in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror horror series, and Bear
Gyrlls: You Vs Wild, in which the viewer moves the adventure
In the past couple of years, the LA Clippers and Second broadcaster through an extreme environment through a
Spectrum have been working together on CourtVision. series of binary commands.
Available to Fox Sports’ Prime Ticket viewers, it provides
a string of options including a static ‘coach view’ mode These kind of nested-choice productions are complex and
and graphical overlays that display either stats or stylised expensive to produce but Netflix has said it will continue to
animations. Last year, AWS machine learning and artificial explore the possibilities of interactive programming. Video,
intelligence elements were added to the package. meanwhile, is not the only potential outlet for this kind of
engagement, with producers considering similar concepts
on voice interfaces like Amazon Alexa.

14
 Sport and gamification

Esports is creating a new paradigm for interaction with

content, giving new opportunities for brands to present GAMIFYING ON-DEMAND
themselves. Sponsors, even non-endemic sponsors,
can develop an association with in-game moments and VIDEO CONTENT
elements, sometimes in ways that direct fans back to their
physical products. In 2019, Pringles agreed a deal with Riot THEORETICALLY
Games’ League of Legends European Championships that
gave fans access to classic, out-of-use character ‘skins’ by PROVIDES A CONTEXT
buying promotional packs.
IN WHICH DISTRIBUTORS
Shared online viewing, prevalent in esports and on the
rise elsewhere, also creates settings in which gamified CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT
experiences can be generated. Last August, German
carmaker Porsche used Twitch to launch its 99X Electric AUDIENCE TASTES AND
vehicle for the 2019/20 season of Formula E. In the real time
Formula E Unlocked campaign, Twitch users pointed drivers BEHAVIOUR, AS WELL AS
Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer around the headquarters of
Porsche’s motorsports operation to find the car in a fully ADDING REPLAY VALUE.
interactive reveal. Twitch reported close to a million live
views across the four hours in which the video was running.

Motorsport, and specifically Formula E, is also the

environment in which the playing and watching of sport
are beginning to converge. The all-electric series’ own
video game and esports project has been augmented with
Formula E Ghost Racing, which allows players to race an
authentic representation of real-world drivers in real time.

Taking it a step further, the AI-powered Roborace

championship is working up a system in which esports
racers can take on the autonomous vehicles on the track.
Theoretically the real-world cars, driven by software, would
react in the physical space to digital information about the
track position of their virtual opponents.

15
 It’s in the game

16
17
It’s in the game
The Esports Observer’s Graham Ashton charts how esports organisations use
gamification techniques not just in the fabric of the games themselves, but for
purposes as varied as talent scouting, community building, and fan monetisation.

E
sports and competitive video gaming are, at their
core, digital products designed to reward. With A MARATHON RUNNER
countless ways to spend one’s free time online, game
publishers have made gratification and achievement DOESN’T WANT TO
a central part of their user experience. This also extends
to esports. Fans aren’t just passively watching others SPEND THEIR RACE
compete; viewing itself has been gamified, and in turn
competitions reward fans proportionally for their devotion WEAVING AROUND
to a specific team or league.
THOSE WITH A SLOWER
The following are some of the long-established and
experimental methods by which esports use gamification as PACE, AND GAMERS
a means to build loyalty and retention in their playerbases
and audiences. DON’T WANT TO SPEND
3-4 HOURS BATTLING
THOSE WHO ARE STILL
LEARNING THE GAME.

18
 Sport and gamification

Online matchmaking: how an

amateur is made to feel like a pro
If a competitive video game has no way to rank its player
base by skill, it will fail in the marketplace. A marathon
runner doesn’t want to spend their race weaving around
those with a slower pace, and gamers don’t want to spend
3-4 hours battling those who are still learning the game.

As a case example, let’s look at League of Legends;

a five-versus-five strategy game from Riot Games. It
boasts a peak player count of eight million per day, and
is one of the biggest esports in the world by viewership
(its 2019 World Championship finals peaked at 44
million concurrent viewers). The game revolves around
competitive seasons, and systematically rewards and
gratifies users to keep them coming back year-on-year.

The first time a player enters ranked mode, they must

complete ten ‘placement’ matches to decide their initial
rank. There are nine ranks in total, and all but the highest
three are further divided into four divisions. A player can
work their way up the ladder alone, or with teammates.

The top rank, Challenger, only has 50-300 seats (depending

on region), and comprises just 0.018% of players. If one
reaches Challenger in the solo/duo queue, they are likely to
be spotted and possibly recruited by a professional team.

Reaching higher ranks requires League Points (LP), which

are awarded or lost every time you win or lose a game,
respectively. The higher ranked players lose LP if they
remain inactive, and players signed to professional leagues
are required to maintain a peak rank of Diamond III to
remain eligible.

Beyond the privilege of playing against more skilled

opponents, League of Legends rewards players for
continuously playing and progressing. A player’s ranked
icon becomes more ornate not only by reaching a new
rank, but also if they keep that rank for multiple splits
(three month periods). This means even a player at a lower
rank can stand out among others who may slip and rise
between other ranks.

But the most lucrative retention method is seasonal

rewards, updated every year. All players, ranked or not,
earn experience points by playing games and completing
missions (e.g. get a 50-win match streak, or win five
games using a specific character). Both reward items to
players, such as icons, character costumes, or emotes.

Even just by winning their first game of the day, players

are granted in-game currency, and every achievement or
reward within the game is given a sense of importance
through unique animation and sound design.

19
Curbing ‘toxic’ behaviour by
rewarding other players
As traditional sports try to curb racist or abusive behaviour
through publicity campaigns, video game publishers are
grappling with abuse of other players, commonly referred
to as ‘toxic’ behaviour. One method employed in League of
Legends (with variants to be found in other games) is the
Honor system. After a match, players can commend the
behaviour of one of their allies: staying calm, demonstrating
leadership, or being a good teammate.

Honor points contribute to a separate ranking system, with its

own perks and in-game rewards. Any bad behaviour from a
player (such as abuse in chat) can be reported, and can lead to
a temporary ban and a loss of all accumulated Honor points.

While these systems can feel gimmicky, they are developed

by dedicated teams of psychologists, human factors
specialists, and statisticians. Even if a player is just
mindlessly spamming a reward button after their match,
this is still a part of ‘operant conditioning’ through positive
reinforcement of desirable behaviour.

Whether positive reinforcement or punishment is better at

curbing bad sportsmanship is still debated in psychology,
but the idea of athletes rating and rewarding each other
anonymously for good behaviour could provide a healthy
boost to the culture of sports.

20
 Sport and gamification

Paying to cheer and convincing fans

to virtually support a team
The gamification methods above focus on players, but Team Leaderboards
what about fans? As esports grows, publishers are trying to
integrate the reward systems from their titles into the viewing
experience. The goal is not only to increase audience levels,
but to build a holistic product; whereby a casual viewer may
be incentivized to download and start playing the game.

League of Legends itself has ‘watch missions’ where

players earn items by watching a certain number
of regular season games, but other titles, such as
Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch, have created a gamified
spectatorship system in partnership with its broadcasters.

The Overwatch League is modelled closely on North

American franchised sports, particularly the NFL, with
teams representing individual cities (e.g. the Washington
Justice, or the London Spitfire). Unlike other esports, these
teams are unique to the league, and to create quick fan
attachment and rivalry, a series of integrations was trialled
on the Amazon livestreaming platform Twitch, which was
the exclusive broadcaster of the league until 2020, when the
rights were acquired by YouTube.

During matches, players could digitally support teams

using ‘Bits’, a microtransaction currency on the platform,
ordinarily used to provide additional revenue to streamers UNLIKE THE FORTNITE
and content creators. Bits can be bought in quantities
of 100 for $1.40, 500 for $7.00, and so on. Individually, a WORLD CUP’S $30 MILLION
player is rewarded for cheering with Twitch items (such as
chat emotes or icons), or Overwatch items (such as team- POT, WHICH IS PUT UP
based character costumes).
FRONT BY THE GAME’S
Leaderboards show which fan has contributed the most to
their team. Global cheering thresholds also exist for teams; DEVELOPER, THE TI
if the collective fanbase contributes enough to one team,
they are all rewarded, and teams themselves are ranked WINNINGS ARE FUNDED
against each other on a leaderboard. There are also weekly
challenges to further incentivize fanship, such as getting ALMOST ENTIRELY BY THE
a certain number of people to view a game, or predicting
outcomes (such as which characters will be used). Some of DOTA 2 PLAYER BASE.
these challenges can only be accessed with the league’s All-
Access Pass, a premium option.

21
The TI Battle Pass: how to earn $100
Million with a digital programme
The International (TI) is an annual tournament for the Valve provides an initial $1.6 million for the TI prize
strategy game Dota 2. When covered by mainstream pool, and 25% of all revenue for the Battle Pass fills the
media, the emphasis is usually placed on its large prize remainder. The costs to create the Pass are not public
pool: $34.3 million in 2019, with a 45.5% lion’s share knowledge, but what is known is that the Pass generated
awarded to the champion team. What’s usually missed over $130 million in 2019 alone, with TI’s prize pool having
is how this money is amassed. Unlike the Fortnite World exceeded $10 million every year since 2013.
Cup’s $30 million pot, which is put up front by the game’s
developer, the TI winnings are funded almost entirely by While technically a form of crowdfunding, not everyone
the Dota 2 player base. who buys the Battle Pass is necessarily doing so as an
esports fan. The rewards are open for a limited-time,
Every year, Dota 2’s developer Valve releases the ‘Battle and even a casual player will be able to reap sufficient
Pass’ to coincide with TI. This in-game content pack features value. Other esports titles have tried introducing similar
numerous quests, achievements, and earnable rewards, initiatives, but the rewards aren’t nearly as extensive so
which could not be earned normally. All of these are locked as to attract the broader playerbase. If Valve simply asked
behind a levelling system, with players climbing from level players to donate directly to the TI prize pool, it’s doubtful
one to a maximum of 1,000. Players could purchase the that it would reach even half the amount as with the
base Pass for $9.99, or a level 100 pass for $44.99. Battle Pass.

The International 2019 - Hourly Prize Pool Coparison Tracker

This chart displays a comparison of the hourly sales of the international
2019 Battle Pass versus The International 2015–2018

22
 Sport and gamification

How traditional sports are going

virtual in COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has put traditional sports into Formula One has been running an esports circuit
its biggest crisis since WWII. All professional leagues, since 2018, which now features teams from all ten
major annual tournaments, and of course, the Olympics constructors, including Ferrari. After the Australian
have either been delayed or postponed indefinitely. With Grand Prix was suddenly cancelled, 19 racers, including
programming gaps to fill, sponsors to appease, and professional racing drivers, as well as professional
audiences to satisfy, several teams and competitions have simulation drivers, footballers, and content creators, all
turned to the sports simulator genre in video games to give took part in the “Not the AUS GP,” organized by Veloce
their fans a virtual substitute. Esports. The personal stream of McLaren’s F1 driver
Lando Norris topped Twitch during the event, hitting a
Leading the pack is motor racing. While racing simulators maximum of 70K concurrent viewers, generating 131K
are enjoyed by thousands of enthusiasts, they are also a average views on an average of 25K viewers.
legitimate training method in NASCAR and Formula One.
In fact, there are some professional drivers today who Virtual cycling, previously a niche in the gaming world,
got their start as pro gamers in a racing sim game. Unlike has also pedalled into the spotlight. Professional teams
most sports sims, which just use a basic game controller, have fielded riders in a variety of virtual competitions.
a racing sim setup is costly and complex: requiring a Unlike motorsports, there is no single game binding these
specific seat, steering wheel, and pedal setup that cost competitions together, with just some of the platforms on
anywhere from £300 to several thousand pounds. the market including Zwift, Bkool, and Rouvy.

NASCAR aggressively invested in esports even before its Football and basketball may not have any physicality
events blackout, but the current situation convinced Fox in their virtual versions, but that hasn’t stopped
Sports to start televising these video game competitions. professional teams using them for interim content. The
The NASCAR Pro Invitational Series, which mixes current Phoenix Suns NBA team has gone all out with its NBA
and hall of fame drivers, earned a 0.81 Nielsen rating and 2K matches; regularly hosted on Twitch with actual NBA
1.33 million viewers for its races on March 22. players behind the controller. The team has also invited
guest players from its sister MLS franchise, and gone
The series is played on iRacing, a subscription-based so far as to hire real NBA colour commentators. These
game first released in 2008, which uses three-dimensional play-by-plays were even broadcasted on Arizona radio; a
laser scanning technology to model its tracks. When the largely unheard of concept in esports.
late British driver Justin Wilson first tried the game’s
version of the Indianapolis Speedway, he immediately The FIFA series remains one of the most popular sports
recognized a bump at the end of the pit road. simulators worldwide, and publisher Electronic Arts is not
letting this opportunity escape them. Esports tournaments
“There are NASCAR teams, driving at the cup level, that for La Liga, the Bundesliga, and MLS are ongoing, while
have iRacing simulators in the race shops, and will have the ‘Friday Night FIFA’ event sees Liverpool right-back
their drivers during the week,” said Tim Clark, senior VP Trent Alexander-Arnold challenging other players across
and chief digital officer for NASCAR. “The benefit to a lot British sport. Another football sim, eFootball PES 2020,
of [NASCAR] sponsors is that any sort of activation they has been used for the ‘eUEFA Euro’ tournament, which will
have on track can be replicated on the virtual world.” award tickets to the real-world final next year.

23
The French LFP was the first major
domestic football league organiser to create
and run its own in-house virtual league
when, four years ago, it partnered with EA
and its FIFA title to launch e-Ligue 1. LFP
Media Director Mathieu Ficot explains the
objectives behind the series, and where he
sees it developing.

What is LFP’s esports strategy?

Our strategy is quite simple. It’s to give to our clubs

additional activation tools to engage their own fans and
their own wider communities. So for us it’s a way to push
our fans to understand all the players better, and to have
stronger engagement with them. It’s not a way to have
another revenue pillar. We are quite proud because four
years ago, we were the first professional league in Europe
to create our own eleague. It was an innovative concept
where we decided to embrace all our clubs to create
tournaments where egamers would represent their own
club; we formatted it with some preliminary qualification
phases, followed by a final, climactic tournament – a winter
and a spring tournament both on PS4 and xbox where each
club sends one winner to Paris. So the final tournament has
20 clubs; 20 gamers, each of them representing their own
team. And it worked quite well. We’ve now had almost four
seasons; 100,000 players. It was our first shot. And it has
also been a way to enhance our relationship with EA.

eLigue 1 - by the numbers

129,931 32,000
games played followers on social networks

Four years in, are you achieving those objectives?

We have created some bridges between the players

themselves and the gamers; it’s a new community of fans.
You have real players like Valentin Rongier, he’s a midfielder
who plays for Marseille, but when he played for Nantes he
won the qualification tournament for the club of Nantes
three times in a row. We want to reinforce and multiply the
bridges between the game and the real world. We have
media coverage of the tournament which is very large and
we are happy that our classic broadcasters also broadcast
this competition via magazine shows.

24
 Sport and gamification

64 magazine shows 26
broadcast on beIN Sport Participant average age

And what are the next steps for the project?

For us the aim would be to develop additional services and the video game, this is my main objective and what
for our international broadcasters. So of course we’re I would love to do with this initiative. I’d rather have
aiming to generate indirect revenues to give more value younger generations focusing on digital consumption
to our live rights, but by creating additional opportunities which could be near-live, excerpts, VOD products, rather
to engage local fans, and not only the French diaspora, than having nothing. And when they grow older because
through physical activations, eLigue 1 tournaments of life and TV consumption habits, then the idea is that
around the world. And I don’t want to leave the younger they would migrate to live matches. Really what I want is
generations to the likes of League of Legends or Fortnite to create a circle of influencers and a really positive and
or other video games. If I can still – for this specific innovative image around Ligue 1 amongst the younger
population – maintain a bind between the sport itself generations.

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