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4 months ago

January 23, 2025

Ratih is optimistic that a (slightly reformulated) esports industry can make these negotiations, with a few global, multi-game teams emerging from the esports winter (into the esports spring, presumably) with strong global foundations to bear future industry shocks. After all, she says, it’s an industry that still (like so many of its players) retains its youth. “Because we are so young as an industry, we have room to structure agreements and do creative deal-making… there’s no set rules or boundaries that you see a lot in traditional sports because it’s a matured business model. They don’t have the leeway that you have in esports.Performance remains key for these clubs: while players take a chunk of tournament prize pool winnings, good results mean longer tournament runs, more viewers, better exposure for sponsors and more fame. But tournament results are far from everything. At present, for G2, sponsorships make up about 60% of revenue, payments from the publishers that make the games it plays contribute 30% and a final 10% comes from a constellation of direct-to-consumer (D2C) plays: physical merchandise, ‘skins’ and other virtual assets, as well as an app and premium membership tiers.

As one commentator put it, “There are two main winners in esports: players and publishers,” while, for example, the parent of League of Legends publisher Riot Games raked in bn in 2023, many organizations between those two poles have been struggling.

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Cast a casual eye at the esports world over the last year and it’s easy to see a jamboree of mega-events, massive viewership and increasing mainstream adoption.Behind the scenes, though, the esports industry is deep into a well-publicized slowdown. Following an investment gold rush in the 2010s (Deloitte reported a .5bn investment influx in 2018 alone) and a 2020 lockdown-based viewership boom, gamers everywhere have been lamenting an ensuing ‘esports winter’ since at least 2023.The agency will operate within G2 and build from its existing 30-strong marketing team. Its goal, Lacrouts says, is to become the world’s “leading gaming agency” and continue the diversification from there “to become one of the most renowned entertainment agencies.” Services will include creative advertising, paid media services and production.The bridge between that world and this one will be the next few years – years in which Dechelotte says to expect further consolidation while a few esports organizations grow into truly global powerhouses and others continue to fall.

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Dechelotte has big dreams for his industry and his club. A former international Rugby player, he long dreamed, he tells The Drum, of being an exec at a rugby or a football club. Now, he sees G2 gearing up for a future where it could one day own a football team. “We are the Real Madrid of esports already in terms of competition, accomplishment and brand. We’re not going to just sit on the dream and wait. We’re building the next dream for G2 – to become the G2 of sports. The future of G2 is to be a club involved in esports, sports and what I call the ‘augmented sports’ – where the worlds of virtual and physical merge with technologies such as VR and AR. How far are we away from Tron? I think a few years. G2 will be this new-generation club that bridges the gap between communities and games.”There was the League of Legends World Championship Finals in London, drawing tens of thousands of IRL fans and a peak of 7 million viewers (261 million people worldwide, apparently, watch esports at least once a month). There was the controversial 2024 Esports World Cup (its m prize pot drew hundreds of professional gamers to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). And not long after, there was the announcement that the International Olympic Committee would mint its first official Olympic Esports games, to be held later this year, also in Saudi Arabia.While it’s tempting to view esports through the lens of traditional sport, in other words, the environment is inherently different. Most conspicuously, nobody owns football or cricket; League of Legends and Counter-Strike are entirely owned by their publishers, Riot Games and Valve. “Dependency will always be there to a certain extent, especially because we lack the big bucket of media rights,” Ratih explains. “We have the necessity to get more creative and build direct-to-consumer avenues and B2B revenue streams. We can’t afford to rely purely on publisher revenues or sponsorship.”“If Twitch understands that they need to offer more targeting options and more freedom of targeting, then we’re going to see much more investment…. If people start investing on Twitch, then, they will do more than one-off media on Twitch because they can. It’s easy.”Then there’s audience diversification: to, in Ratih’s words, “attract fans that are not regular esports viewers… getting out of the esports shell is not only necessary in order to capture the full revenue potential – it’s also, audience-wise, the place to go”.AdvertisementLacrouts isn’t the only advertising veteran at G2; chief executive Alban Dechelotte is a strategist by training, with a decade at Havas under his belt (he ended up as managing director for Germany), as well as CV entries for the aforementioned Coke and Riot Games.

Dreaming big

“We just don’t have enough people in the marketing department yet who have experienced gaming and esports,” Lacrouts explains. “There are not enough gamers in key decision positions… Most brands have explored so far. That’s it. They’ve done R&D.” There are some exceptions – Coke, for example, made its big ‘Real Magic’ play in 2021 to mixed results – but gaming is struggling to shake off this one-off approach. “They don’t necessarily have the renewal budget for the next year… [And] agencies are looking for the award-winning campaign most of the time. So when you’re briefing an agency to do something in gaming, it’s just a one-off campaign”.Other diversification pushes include renegotiating terms with publishers for a “more sustainable model” for everyone. Despite the impossibility of full broadcast, Premier League-style media rights, there’s also a drive to find “equivalent media rights that you see in traditional sports.” Then there’s global expansion – for European-headquartered G2, that means further development into North America and, especially, China, an enormous gaming market “of which we’ve barely scraped the surface.”Spurred by the wider tech slowdown, layoffs in the gaming industry were so widespread that they have their own Wikipedia page. Esports companies were among the high-profile casualties: major player Faze Clan laid off a fifth of its staff and saw stocks lose 80% of their value; competitor CLG went belly-up then was bought out by a competitor; publications and tournament organizers shuttered; a planned m esports arena in Philadelphia quietly pivoted to retail. Some sponsors and advertisers were spooked – BMW announced that it would “end its esport engagement” back in 2023 (though it has continued to do some work in related spaces).

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“The paid media results on Twitch suck,” Lacrouts says. “They’re just not that good for awareness. But people want conversion, so they never consider using gaming for performance marketing, and so the industry never sees this part of the budget”. The issue is three-fold, he says. First, on Twitch, ads can only target a game or a Twitch category – but not audience groups or channels. Second, the minimum buy is ,000. Third, there’s no option to buy locally as you would, say, during the breaks in a World Cup match. In other words, “Twitch sells the masses… There are many brands out there that would love to invest in Twitch, just like they do on Meta, But it’s all made to sell big-bulk paid media. No brand who could target gamers as part of a global audience is going to go through the effort.

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“I think it’s also fair to cut our industry a bit of slack, because we are so young still. To compare us always to traditional sports I find a bit unfair… if we want to build this industry for the long term, yes, we have to compete with revenue buckets that you see in Formula One and football, but it’s fair to give ourselves the time to get there.”

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When it comes to girls sports, what happens in California will not stay there

A teenage competitor who has transitioned from male to female was able to compete in a California state championship as a girl, against girls, over the weekend. The California Interscholastic Federation rule changes last week made it so that the young woman who would have otherwise won first place shared the podium with the transgender […]

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June 5, 2025

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When I asked Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office for comment, it quickly responded that the governor didn’t sign AB 1266 (a state law that allows students to play in the sport league of their preferred gender). Gov. Jerry Brown did. It also said Newsom had nothing to do with CIF or the rule changes.

Yet, when I spoke to insiders in Sacramento, the feeling on the ground was very different. Centrist and level-headed Democrats are terrified to speak up. They feel pressure from the Democratic caucus to sit down and shut up. The statement Newsom released, applauding the CIF rule change, made it pretty clear where he stands, even though he, too, is distancing himself from this issue for now.

Newsom’s office also restated to me what some outlets have reported, that it believes the number of high school athletes who are transgender is in the single digits in the state. Mothers with girls in sports called BS on this when they spoke to me via phone, text, email, and DMs. California does not require student athletes to disclose their gender identity, so how did the governor’s office come up with this number? The mad mamas I spoke to offered up numerous instances of their girls facing biological boys in sports ranging from water polo to volleyball to basketball and even hockey.

A continual thread from the Left is that these parents and “outsiders” are “anti trans.” But in reality, their tone is more about concerns of safety, innocence, and unfairness. These aren’t all parents or students on the religious Right.

Sophia Lorey, outreach director at the California Family Council, a Christian public policy group that advocates religious freedom, parental rights, and fairness in school sports, has attended numerous CIF events. She started doing so at the request of parents and participating athletes. Lorey was removed by a CIF official over the weekend for handing out pink “XX Only” bracelets and pamphlets with her mother.

“As a former CIF varsity and collegiate athlete, I showed up to defend girls’ sports and was escorted out by CIF and police for handing out ‘save girls’ sports’ bracelets and flyers,” she told me. “No one could point to a single policy justifying their actions. Meanwhile, a male athlete was dominating three girls’ events. These girls deserved celebration, not compromise. Watching them share the spotlight with someone who had a biological advantage was painful. We are failing them when we refuse to protect fairness.”

She continued, “Silencing women who speak up for fairness is an attack on the First Amendment and a betrayal of every female athlete who plays by the rules. It is clear that I didn’t disrupt the competition; I disrupted CIF’s narrative.”

Most participants who are pro-girls, pro-girls sports, and pro-girls’ opportunities are confused and frustrated when they show up at tournaments, meets, and competitions to find out that they will be competing against someone with a biological advantage. The meets were confusing and sad when these girls recognized that they wouldn’t make the top nine because of a biological male. They were upset, nervous, and in tears while feeling a sense of disappointment and unfairness before they even competed.

DOJ THREATENS LAWSUIT OVER CALIFORNIA TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY

CIF isn’t doing these things in a vacuum. It is afraid of radical leftist organizations such as Equality CA and the Trevor Project, whose form 990s boast funding of almost $100 million nationally, coming in and pressuring the Democratic supermajority not to allow CIF to operate as an organization within the state. Worst case scenario, these agenda-driven Democrats create a new state body to regulate school sports that is beholden to the legislature directly.

The California Family Council has a website with a petition that has garnered over 15,000 signatures demanding that the CIF take the concerns of girls in sports seriously and make rule changes to protect them. I’d urge all concerned athletes and parents to sign it. You may think that this started in California and ends in California, but it is happening everywhere. Our girls deserve better.

Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She advocates women’s rights, school choice, and smaller government.

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ROAD TO A HOME WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGINS IN LA SEU FOR AUSTRALIAN CANOE SLALOM TEAM THIS WEEKEND

With 117 days to go until the ICF Slalom World Championships arrive in Sydney, the Australian Canoe Slalom team are preparing to get their 2025 international season underway in Spain, this weekend. Olympic gold medalists Jessica and Noemie Fox headline the 10-strong team that will compete at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 […]

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June 5, 2025

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With 117 days to go until the ICF Slalom World Championships arrive in Sydney, the Australian Canoe Slalom team are preparing to get their 2025 international season underway in Spain, this weekend.

Olympic gold medalists Jessica and Noemie Fox headline the 10-strong team that will compete at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup 1 in La Seu from Friday 6 June through until Sunday 8 June.

“The main objective that I have my eyes on this year is the World Championships…a home World Championships in a career is very special,” Noemie Fox said.

“But also the World Cups this year, I’m really looking forward to challenging myself – it’s a bit of a harder schedule with just one run, straight to top 12 and into the final.

“So I think there’s a lot more challenges this year for me, but I’m excited to step up in my slalom events and to maintain my Kayak Cross world rankings and titles,” she said.

It is the first of five World Cup events, with the season set to culminate in Penrith for the 2025 ICF Slalom World Championships.

The World Cup 1 program will start with the men’s and women’s Kayak Heats and Finals on Friday, before the men’s and women’s Canoe Heats and Finals on Saturday, and wrap up with the Kayak Cross on Sunday.

Among the Australians competing this weekend is World Cup and senior national team debutant Ben Ross.

“Debuting on my first senior team is very exciting, and for me it’s all about coming into the Worlds with a performance objective, do as well as I can, but also really lapping up the experience, enjoying the opportunities that being on the senior team provides and just trying to get as much out of the experience as I can.

“I’m racing World Cups 1 and 2, in La Seu (Spain) and Pau (France), and then I’ll be taking a break for World Cup 3 for the U23 World Championships…they’re quite close to each other.

“I went to Seu and Pau for the first time last year, just for training and I was really privileged to be able to do that.

“Seu is quite unique – I’ve watched a lot of my fellow team mates race there in the past and watched a lot of races online, but never myself.

“But I feel like I’m in a good place, I’ve had a bit of training on the course but it’s a really special place in Slalom history, with the 1992 Olympics and to be able to race there will be super exciting,” Ross said.

The 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup season will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports Australia and Kayo Sports.

2025 ICF CANOE SLALOM WORLD CUP 1

Friday 6 June

7:30pm AEST | Women’s Kayak Heats
8:29pm AEST | Men’s Kayak Heats
11:05pm AEST | Women’s Kayak Final
11:47pm AEST | Men’s Kayak Final

Saturday 7 June

7pm AEST | Women’s Canoe Heats
7:50pm AEST | Men’s Canoe Heats
10:04pm AEST | Women’s Canoe Final
10:47pm AEST | Men’s Canoe Final

Sunday 8 June

6pm AEST | Kayak Cross Time Trial
10pm AEST | Kayak Cross Heats
11pm AEST | Kayak Cross Quarterfinals
11:40pm AEST | Kayak Cross Semi Finals
12am AEST | Kayak Cross Finals

AUSTRALIAN TEAM

Jessica Fox (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Noemie Fox (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Kate Eckhardt (Women’s Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross)

Lucien Delfour (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Tim Anderson (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Ben Pope (Men’s Kayak, Kayak Cross)

Tristan Carter (Men’s Canoe)

Kaylen Bassett (Men’s Canoe)

Ben Ross (Men’s Canoe)

Georgie O’Callaghan (Women’s Kayak Cross)

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Mater Dei, Sage Hill win CIF State boys volleyball championships – Orange County Register

The Mater Dei and Sage Hill boys volleyball teams won CIF State championships over the weekend. This is the first season that CIF State championships have been held for boys volleyball. Previously, the volleyball season ended with regional playoffs. All of the state finals were played at Fresno City College. In the Division II final […]

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Mater Dei and Sage Hill boys volleyball teams won CIF State championships over the weekend.

This is the first season that CIF State championships have been held for boys volleyball. Previously, the volleyball season ended with regional playoffs.

All of the state finals were played at Fresno City College.

In the Division II final on Friday, Mater Dei defeated Clovis Buchannan in four sets, 17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-20.

Monarchs sophomore Jeremiah Postasi had a team-high 16 kills in the match.

Sage Hill won the Division III championship Saturday by defeating San Francisco International, 25-19, 25-16, 25-23.

Mira Costa continued its season-long dominance by winning the Division I title by defeating San Jose Archbishop Mitty, 25-14, 15-15, 25-21.

The Mustangs defeated Huntington Beach 3-0 in the CIF Southern California Regional final and defeated Huntington Beach in five sets in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final.

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Long Beach To Host 7 Paralympic Sports In 2028

LONG BEACH, CA — Long Beach has been selected to host seven sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, city officials said in a statement Tuesday. Long Beach’s waterfront will serve as the backdrop for para climbing, para swimming, shooting para sport, sitting volleyball, blind football (soccer), para rowing and para canoe-sprint, according […]

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3 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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LONG BEACH, CA — Long Beach has been selected to host seven sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, city officials said in a statement Tuesday.

Long Beach’s waterfront will serve as the backdrop for para climbing, para swimming, shooting para sport, sitting volleyball, blind football (soccer), para rowing and para canoe-sprint, according to city officials.

“We are incredibly proud and honored that Long Beach will host seven Paralympic sporting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement Tuesday. “This milestone truly showcases our commitment to inclusion, athletic excellence and community spirit.”

SEE ALSO: Flying Taxis May Help Ease LA Traffic During 2028 Olympics

The 2028 games mark the debut of para climbing, which, along with para swimming, will take place in the convention center lot, Long Beach city officials said. Shooting para sport will take place at a temporary indoor range, sitting volleyball at the Long Beach Arena, blind football (soccer) at Alamitos Beach, and para rowing and para canoe-spring at Marine Stadium, city officials said.

Earlier this year, Long Beach was selected to host 11 Olympic games in 20028, including beach volleyball, handball, water polo, sailing and target shooting.

City officials said Tuesday that Long Beach’s involvement in the Olympic and Paralympic games will raise its international profile as a “world-renowned destination for business, tourism and special events.”

“It will also generate significant economic activity for the city and enhance the livability of Long Beach residents and visitors for generations to come,” city officials said in a statement.

The Olympic Games are set to take place from July 14 to 30, while the Paralympic Games will be hosted from Aug. 15 to 27.

To ease travel in and around game venues, Los Angeles County officials are considering implementing a water taxi and a flying taxi.

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MiLB FastCast

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3 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Sports

Moody Center match highlights 2025 schedule

Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman | Hearst – Austin Transition Texas volleyball announced its complete 2025 schedule Tuesday, which will feature 10 home matches at Gregory Gymnasium as well as a historic contest at Moody Center. The schedule also features a 15-match SEC regular-season slate, the renewed SEC volleyball tournament and 14 total matches against teams […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 5, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman
| Hearst – Austin Transition

Texas volleyball announced its complete 2025 schedule Tuesday, which will feature 10 home matches at Gregory Gymnasium as well as a historic contest at Moody Center.

The schedule also features a 15-match SEC regular-season slate, the renewed SEC volleyball tournament and 14 total matches against teams that reached last season’s NCAA Tournament.

The home matches will start Sept. 7 against national power Stanford at Moody Center, which will mark the first time Texas has played in the three-year-old home of the Longhorns basketball programs. Expanding his program’s footprint has long been a goal for Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, and he has said that he expects 10,000 fans to pack into Moody Center for the match.

Gregory Gymnasium, which has an official capacity of 4,000, can cram in a little more than 5,000 fans and regularly sells out for volleyball matches.

Texas, which went 20-7 and reached a regional semifinal in 2024, will open its season Aug. 29 at the inaugural Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wisc. against Creighton and plays Aug. 31 against Wisconsin. Creighton ended the Longhorns’ hopes of three consecutive national titles.

Texas Longhorns volleyball 2025 schedule

Aug. 29: vs. Creighton, Kohl Center, Madison, Wisc

Aug. 31: at Wisconsin, Kohl Center, Madison, Wisc.

Sept. 3: at Rice

Sept. 7: vs. Stanford, Moody Center

Sept. 10: vs. Louisville, Dickies Arena, Fort Worth

Sept. 14: vs Arizona State

Sept. 17: vs. TCU

Sept. 19: vs. Baylor

Sept. 24: vs Vanderbilt*

Sept. 26: vs. Missouri*

Oct. 1: at Georgia*

Oct. 5: at Mississippi State*

Oct. 8: vs. Tennessee*

Oct. 12: at Alabama*

Oct. 17: vs. Arkansas*

Oct. 19: vs. Oklahoma*

Oct. 24: at Ole Miss*

Oct. 26: at LSU*

Oct. 31: at Texas A&M*

Nov. 2: vs. Kentucky*

Nov. 7: at Florida*

Nov. 12: at Auburn*

Nov. 16: vs. South Carolina*

– Times and television broadcast information for all Texas volleyball matches will be released at a later date.

– All vs. games at Gregory Gymnasium unless otherwise noted

– All SEC games denoted with *

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