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In considering how to build a new esport organization with long-term economic stability, Blizzard took cues from traditional sports. Most notably, Overwatch League will run city-based teams, encouraging a local groundswell of fans, greater merchandising opportunities and the ability to run matches across many different cities.

“You typically see fans of esports teams are fans of individual players, and then they kind of stick with that team over time,” Nanzer said. “But we think there’s an opportunity to bring in people who are interested in esports but maybe haven’t engaged much with it by adding that geographic element. If you look at the way that teams make money in traditional sports, a lot of that has to do with local activity. When we think about adding stability to esports and to esports teams, we think localizing esports to some degree by having the city-based teams is going to unlock additional revenue opportunities for teams that don’t exist in today’s esports ecosystem.”

Blizzard is also chasing stability in how its players are compensated. While the developer promises an expected seven-digit prize pool for Overwatch League, it hopes to turn the conversation away from prize pools and toward more mature  and long-term signs of a sports league’s success. For example, Blizzard plans to implement a guaranteed minimum salary for players and to require that team owners give them full benefits. The studio has also looked into starting a college fund for players, acknowledging that many esports competitors are young, and most won’t stay involved with esports forever.

“Nobody talks about what the prize pool is for the World Cup or the prize pool for the Super Bowl,” said Hunt. “Everybody knows that the athletes are very well compensated. They get bonuses for winning the World Series or the Super Bowl, but it’s not where the emphasis is in terms of the compensation. That’s because a much more stable ecosystem for players and athletes is where they have contracts and guaranteed compensation and benefits and everything else. That’s more along the lines of the approach that we’re taking.”

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