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Since the rise of COVID-19 in March, people have been working from home, events have been postponed or canceled and sports leagues are on break. Sports are many people’s main form of entertainment, be it on tv or actually playing the sport. However, one type of sport has been thriving during the last couple of months, and that is esports. Unlike regular sports, esports can be run completely online and from home, COVID-19 has not put a stop to competition. I’ll mostly be talking about the League of Legends European Championship and the League of Legends Championship Series (North America), the LEC and LCS respectively. Both of these leagues have been producing the broadcast and playing the matches remotely since March. Production is all done from home, broadcast talent is mostly casting from home and the players have been competing from their homes or their team’s facilities. This is obviously not ideal and people are concerned about competitive integrity, but it has been going well, everything considered.

Fans are still able to enjoy the competition, while many other forms of entertainment have been put to a stop, and viewership has seen a significant increase compared to last year. The LCS has seen a 25% increase in viewership this summer compared to last year, surpassing the peak viewership record multiple times and the 2020 Summer Finals reached 545.571 peak viewers. The LEC managed to increase the total hours watched by 85% compared to the summer season of 2019, with over 40 million hours watched. The final even reached a peak of 952.339 viewers, which was a 16,7% increase from last year. Esports viewership has been increasing significantly over the last decade, so not everything can be attributed to COVID-19. However, with so many sports and other forms of entertainment disappearing due to corona, people must be looking for other forms of entertainment, and esports is one of them.

Even though esports has seen significant growth, it has not really entered the mainstream in the west, unlike countries like China and South Korea. I believe that many people do not realize the pace at which this industry is growing in terms of viewership and revenue. For example, the esports audience has grown from 335 million in 2017 to 454 million in 2019 and it is expected to grow even further to 646 million in 2023. Furthermore, esports generated more than 1 billion dollars in revenue in 2019, and expectations for 2022 are somewhere around 1.5 to 2 billion dollars.

Most of this revenue is generated through advertising and sponsorships, 69% to be precise. Esports is an incredibly attractive market for many brands due to the characteristics of its viewers, most of them are between 18-35 years old, which is the opposite of many traditional sports. To put it in perspective, the LCS is the 3rd biggest sports league in the USA for 18-34 year-olds, only behind the NFL and NBA. There are many prominent brands that are already sponsoring the esports leagues and teams. To name a few; Mastercard, Honda, Mercedes, Red Bull, Logitech, Bose, and Dell through their Alienware gaming hardware.

As a fan myself, I’m incredibly excited to see where esports is heading. Every year is more impressive than the one before, and managing to keep it all running during COVID-19 shows incredible resilience and professionalism for such a young industry. The tenth League of Legends World Championship is taking place in Shanghai this year and will last from the end of September all the way through October. COVID-19 has ruined many of the big plans that were made for the 10th anniversary, but thanks to Riot Games, Tencent, and the Chinese government the tournament can still take place. If you are interested in League of Legends, or esports in general, then this would be a great place to start and see what esports is all about.

 

 

References:

Nexus.leagueoflegends.com. 2019. 2019 LCS Year In Review. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 September 2020].

Guerrero, A., 2020. 2020 LEC Summer Viewership Update. [online] Lolesports.com. Available at: [Accessed 19 September 2020].

Escharts.com. 2020. LCS Summer 2020 Detailed Viewers Stats. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 September 2020].

Murray, T., 2020. LCS Summer Split Sees 25% Viewership Increase Year-Over-Year Ahead Of Finals Weekend. [online] The Esports Observer. Available at: [Accessed 19 September 2020].

Reyes, M., 2019. Esports Ecosystem Report 2020: The Key Industry Players And Trends Growing The Esports Market Which Is On Track To Surpass $1.5B By 2023. [online] Business Insider. Available at: [Accessed 19 September 2020].

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A Dutch startup called Hardt is planning to achieve this with its hyperloop technology. Hardt uses a combination of magnets and low-pressure tubes, which make it possible for the vehicle to achieve speeds up to 1,000 km/h with zero CO2 emissions. The goal is to create a European hyperloop network that connects all the major cities and airports. It will be one of the fastest modes of transportation, with an expected travel time of 47 minutes between Schiphol and Paris. This, combined with the fact that the hyperloop has zero CO2 emissions and runs completely on renewable electricity, makes it a great solution for the current environmental and transportation issues. The hyperloop is still in development, but in a pre-feasibility study with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Hardt estimates a total of 97 – 127 million passengers in 2050.

A hyperloop network throughout all of Europe could be incredibly disruptive to the short-haul flight industry. For example, flights will take longer than the hyperloop over relatively short distances, and the pre-feasibility study shows that it can compete with aviation on distances up to 3000 kilometers. Furthermore, the hyperloop network is designed to be incredibly convenient, travelers won’t have to book in advance or plan and the hyperloop departs every 7-10 minutes. If you compare this to aviation where you have to book in advance and arrive 2 hours before departure, then the choice is easily made. Lastly, the hyperloop will be environmentally friendly, and with the increased concerns around the environmental impact of short-haul flights in Europe, many people will decide to go with the “greener” option. Reuters even reported that a survey by the European Investment Bank showed that 62% of the respondents would be in favor of a ban on short-haul flights.

However, not only the aviation industry could be disrupted, but the high-speed rail is also at risk. The hyperloop is faster across all distances, better for the environment, and will be much more convenient when traveling through different countries because European countries recently agreed on common standards for hyperloop systems. This does not exist for high-speed rail, different countries have different rules and standards, which means transfers and complications.

The hyperloop could be an incredible innovation that changes the transportation industry, but Hardt still has a lot of work ahead of them to make this a reality.

 

References:

Abnett, K. (2020). ‘Ban short-haul flights for climate? In EU poll 62% say yes’, Reuters, 10 March. Available at: https://af.reuters.com/article/idAFKBN20X2SK (Accessed: 12 September 2020).

Hardt. 2020. Hardt. Available at: <https://hardt.global/> (Accessed 12 September 2020).

Hardt 2020, European Countries Agree to Establish Common Standards for Hyperloop Systems, Hardt, viewed 12 September 2020, < https://hardt.global/sub/press/european-standards-hyperloop/>

Hardt 2020, Hyperloop can play major role in Schiphol becoming the envisioned sustainable multi-modal hub, Hardt, viewed 12 September 2020, <https://hardt.global/sub/press/hyperloop-can-play-major-role-schiphol-becoming-envisioned-sustainable-multi-modal-hub/>

Hardt 2020, Hyperloop prefeasibility study with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, viewed 12 September 2020, <https://issuu.com/hardthyperloop/docs/hardt_schiphol_project_booklet_short__2___1_/26>

Loritz, M. (2019). ‘Delft-based Hardt Hyperloop raises multi-million euro round to develop high-speed, zero emissions transportation’, EU-Startups, 21 October. Available at: https://www.eu-startups.com/2019/10/delft-based-hardt-hyperloop-raises-multi-million-euro-investment-to-develop-high-speed-zero-emissions-transportation/ (Accessed: 12 September 2020)