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How Can I Start An eSports League?

Whoa! You just witnessed the craziest finish to an eSports championship match you have ever seen in your freaking life! While social media sites like Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter are going crazy, you take a second to catch your breath from the excitement. While clips from the final kill are being shown over and over on replay, you realize that your favorite team was able to win despite making some critical mistakes down the final stretch of the match. In fact, going into the championship match you were concerned that they would be susceptible to certain types of attacks, and the opposing team could have the advantage if they executed a good strategy.

Fifteen minutes later after things have calmed some, and blood pressure has slowly returned to normal, you find yourself thinking about the future of eSports. More importantly, you begin to think about your future in eSports, and perhaps one day turning a hobby into a full-blown career. The truth is, having a future in professional gaming is no longer just a pipe dream, but it’s a potential reality that millions of teens and adults are now proudly beginning to embrace due to the rise of eSports.

And then the world took notice at eSports

Over the last decade, the maturity of the gaming technology, and the internet have enabled closet gamers around the world to come out in mass while sharing their passion and enthusiasm with others from similar tribes. However, it wasn’t until the billions of dollars started pouring in from eSports industry revenues that the rest of the world stopped and began to take notice. And trust us, the rest of the world now has the eSports industry in the cross-hairs of peak interest, as projections for annual eSports tournaments viewership and revenues continue to skyrocket each year. 

But how can I start an eSports league exactly?

You may find yourself reading this article because you are interested in breaking into the eSports scene yourself. Or you’re just generally curious. Regardless of what your reasoning may be, there are many ways to find a career in eSports, whether it’s becoming a professional gamer yourself or perhaps getting another job in the industry.

In this post, we will focus on how you can get involved by starting your own eSports league. Don’t be intimidated because we are going to break down some of the best tips and help build your confidence to do something awesome. And who knows, you may soon find yourself running one of the largest and most successful eSports leagues in the world! Sounds too good to be true? You are probably right, all those founders of eSports leagues that exist today got lucky, and there’s no way you could ever start your own eSports league. Or could you?

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Okay, here are the meat and potatoes of starting your eSports league

At this point, you’re probably wondering where to even begin your journey. And you’re most likely asking yourself how can I possibly start an eSports league? Well, we’ve got the complete guide for you! The first thing is that there’s no one right way of creating your own competitive gaming league. There are multiple paths and ways of doing so, all of which could lead to a very successful outcome. 

This complete guide will cover the following topics, which will provide you with all the detailed information you need to know for starting an eSports league:

• Have a vision big vision for your eSports organization
• Start an eSports league solo or find a co-founder
  • Characteristics of a good co-founder
  • How to find a co-founder
  • Conclusion
• Decide if the organization will be school-affiliated, independent, or hosted at a LAN club
• Starting a high school eSports league
  • Research the school’s organized activity requirements
  • Create the eSports league vision statement
  • Pick the video game title for the eSports league
  • Determine the eSports league format
  • Recruit and spread the word
• Starting an eSports League at a college or university
  • Finding external organizational support
• Starting an independent eSports league
  • Put in management and organizational structure
  • Determine the legal stuff for the organization
  • How to finance your eSports league
  • Create a professional website for the eSports league
  • Other services to support your eSports league presence
• Join a LAN eSports gaming club
  • What is a LAN eSports gaming club?
  • Benefits of a LAN
  • Drawbacks of a LAN
  • Breaking down the math
• And now it’s time to start your own eSports league

Have a vision big vision for your eSports organization

Here comes a short, but necessary, pep talk about preparing you for the remainder of the article. The truth is, many people go their entire lives without ever chasing after their dreams. There will come a fork in the road in every person’s life in which they will need to decide to pursue their passions or allow circumstances to dictate their path.

Starting an eSports league won’t be easy, but then again, nothing worth having in life ever comes easy. It’s vital that when you decide to start your own, to follow what’s inside your heart despite the outside voices that may try to convince you it’s not possible to have a successful eSports organization one day. Anything is possible. Have a big vision and just do it.

Start an eSports league solo or find a co-founder

One of your very first considerations will be if you want to start your league solo or bring in a co-founder. There are benefits and drawbacks to both, but depending on how you work with others will have a substantial influence on which route you should go. If you can find someone who is as passionate about the eSports industry as you are, then having a co-founder could potentially cut the time in half to go from idea to full-blown eSports organization. 

However, even people who are passionate may not necessarily have the same drive as you to create an eSports league of your own. If this is the case, flying solo can save you time, energy, and stress. If you do decide to bring in a co-founder, make sure you know the type of person you are going to be working with.

Characteristics of a good co-founder

You should ideally look for an eSports league co-founder that embodies the following six personality characteristics:

Smart: American entrepreneur and author Jim Rohn once said: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” While you may not be considering bringing in four co-founders with you, the same principle here applies. You want to work with someone who can push you to be more creative, challenge mediocrity, make better league decisions, and think outside the box.

Trustworthy: When you decide to start an eSports league with a co-founder, you are essentially entering into a marriage.  Just like any other marriage, there will be up and downs. The key here is to make sure that you find someone that you know can be trusted with very sensitive and personal information. Whether it’s trusting the co-founder to handle the league finances or maintain confidential information regarding players, we highly recommend finding a co-founder that can prove to you that they are trustworthy.

Reliable: If you talk to many business owners, the first complaint you will typically hear is that it’s tough to find reliable workers. Finding a reliable co-founder is a must-have. When you start an eSports league, you will often find yourself needing to be in two or three places at once. Having a reliable co-founder can help you rest easy knowing that you know you have someone that will do what they said they would do. Reliability in a co-founder can honestly be the difference between the success and failure in your eSports league

Passionate: One of the most critical characteristics in picking a co-founder is finding someone who is passionate about eSports. Passion is contagious because it can genuinely inspire everyone in the league to believe they can do great things, even when the life circumstances may look otherwise. Passion is typically a quality in people that allows them to stand firm against both the tides of success and failure. Finding a passionate co-founder is the one personality trait that should be non-negotiable.

Visionary: It is essential that your co-founder has a big vision for the league. Ideally, you will want to find a co-founder who not only sees the league for where it is today but ten years from now. The vision can include having big ideas for a marketing plan to recruit top local players into the league, or even leveraging new technologies to enhance the eSports training regime for players within the league. Whatever the case may be, find a co-founder who refuses to be realistic about the potential of the league.

Brings value to the league: Historically, if you think about all of the great partnerships in world history, one consistent trait of those relationships was that each person brought some unique value to the organization. This value can come in a variety of forms including financial value, personality value, or professional connections. If you can find a co-founder that has strengths in areas that you lack, you have a higher chance to plant a seed in your eSports league that could bear much fruit in the days and years ahead.

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How to find a co-founder

We understand that on paper, finding those six qualities may sound easy. But, chances are finding that type of person in the real may prove challenging. If you are having issues finding the right co-founder, take a look at networking websites like CoFoundersLab or Founder2be, which can help you make connections with like-minded people who share similar interests. 

Conclusion

Now keep in mind, out of all the decisions you will make regarding the future of your eSports league, whether or not you bring a co-founder is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. Choosing the right person can be life-changing, and picking the wrong person can cause you a lot of pain. And let’s face it, ain’t nobody got time for that!

Decide if the eSports organization will be school-affiliated, independent, or hosted at a LAN club

Your current life situation could profoundly influence how you choose to start your eSports organization. Depending on if you are currently in school or the working world, you’ll probably choose a different path to starting the organization. If you are currently in either high school or college, you may wish to leverage the organizational structure and resources of your school when starting out. If you are out of school or just want to start an independent league, there are many other options below for how you can begin the process. In the upcoming sections, we will cover the methods for starting a school-affiliated, independent, or LAN hosted eSports organization.

Starting a high school eSports league

Research the school’s organized activity requirements

Before you decide to walk down to your high school Principal’s office, put your feet on the table, light a cigar, and proceed to tell him or her about your grand plans to launch the school’s first eSports league, take a minute to pump the brakes. Just like any other proposal, if you want to be taken seriously, make sure you first do plenty of research and planning prior.

We would recommend first looking into the rules for the school’s organized activities for student-led clubs and groups. Each school will most likely have a set of conditions that must be met if the school will allow an organized activity to be held on its campus. These rules could include mandating that a member of the faculty sponsor the student group, the activity must be educational in nature, or even that the activity has a religious affiliation if the school is a private school.

Researching a high school’s organized activity requirements is a critical step in the process to start an eSports league. This is because you don’t want to have wasted a ton of time working on other aspects of the league, only to find out that your high school will not allow you to affiliate the eSports league with the high school.

Create the eSports league vision statement

Like any good organization, it is important to create a vision statement to outline what the organization is about and how it will operate. When you create your vision statement for your eSports league you should identify some of the following components:

• The purpose of the league
• Why the league is needed at the school
• Who is the league intended to serve
• Determine how the school will benefit from the league (ex: students must meet a minimum GPA requirement to participate)
• People requirements (ex: which members of the faculty will be needed to sponsor the league?)
• Physical requirements for the league (ex: classroom, computer lab, weekend access to the school)
• Technology requirements for the league (ex: wifi, projectors, cameras, gaming glasses, allowing access to prohibited sites)

Pick the video game title for the eSports league

Picking your video game to base your eSports league around may seem like the most obvious step. However, this can often be the most challenging. The world of eSports has a wide array of video games to choose from. Some leagues compete in multiple eSports video games, while others focus on a single video game title. We would recommend starting out with an individual video game title so that the league has a singular focus to start. 

To determine which video game your eSports league focus on will likely require you getting feedback from other students to assess which games are most popular among students or could generate the most interest from both experienced and new players. Again, we would recommend choosing a single video game title that the eSports league will be centered around because it will not only help provide a singular focus for the players on the team but also assist you in creating an eSports league identity in your marketing efforts.

Determine the eSports league format

Determining the league format for tournaments, competition, and training will primarily be dependent on the video game you choose above. For example, if you select League of Legends (LoL) as the video game the league will center on, you will need to be conscious that the format for LoL is five players per team. So if you want to have a proper competition, your eSports league will need at least ten players total, five players per team.

It is also important to plan exactly how the teams in your eSports league will compete. Will eSports teams within your league only compete with teams within your local high school? Or will they be able to compete with other high schools? Will your league want to compete with teams around the world? Will your league have a regular season and a postseason? If so, will the format of the post-season competition be round-robin or single elimination? These are just some of the questions you will need to ask as you are creating a fantastic format for your eSports league!

One way you can create an eSports league format is like professional soccer, in which there are both Club and National teams. For example, the regular and postseason for your league may only consist of internal competition within your high school. Then, you may want to create a National team concept, in which the best players from the teams within your league will compete against teams in other leagues around the world.

There are many different ways you can go when creating a fantastic eSports league format. However, whichever method you choose just make sure to be consistent and clear on the format. 

Recruit and spread the word

Your high school may have very specific rules on how you can engage other students when recruiting players for your eSports league, so make sure as part of your initial research into the school’s organized activity requirements you know the rules. However, often the best recruiting method merely is word of mouth! Talk to people you think may be interested in joining the league and share your vision for the league. In time, you may find that even people you didn’t know would be interested may be excited about joining!

Starting an eSports League at a college or university

Almost all of the tips outlined above for high schools will still be relevant for starting an eSports league at a college or university. So if you skipped over that section make sure to read to get some valuable tips! However, collegiate eSports is a bit different because we are seeing colleges and universities are more and more entering into a nationalized collegiate eSports model.

Finding external organizational support

Deciding to form a collegiate eSports league has a great advantage over high school leagues, because you may find more support and experience from external organizations to help you set up your school-affiliated eSports league, instead of the more grassroots approach when establishing a league at a high school.

Colleges and universities are joining national organizations such as Tespa, which helps schools form a culture of gaming on campus, as well as helping schools host eSports tournaments, and connects them to other schools within Tespa’s network. A significant benefit of having an organization like Tespa integrated with your school’s eSport league is that Tespa promotes its own tournament structure for member schools, which can provide a lot of value to newly established collegiate eSports leagues that are just getting started. Tespa has over 250+ member schools and over 100,000+ members and alumni. 

Another notable organization that helps colleges and universities lay the foundation for creating eSports leagues is the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). NACE promotes itself as the only association of varsity esports programs in the United States and all of their schools are operating under NACE rules and bylaws. It also works with its member institutions to provide structure and tools needed to advance collegiate eSports. Currently, NACE has over 80+ member schools and 1,500+ student-athletes. If you are interested in bringing eSports to your school, check out their website and fill out their form to receive more information.

As you can see, starting an eSports league at a college or university can be a lot easier, and there are a ton of resources and organizations that can help guide you in the right direction. Keep in mind, you still may need to employ some grassroots marketing tactics on campus to generate interest and excitement, and lobby your school administrators to gauge the feasibility of starting an eSports league on campus.

Starting an independent eSports league

Starting an independent eSports league will typically not have the organizational backing as we have seen with school-affiliated eSports leagues. However, there are a ton of benefits associated with starting an independent league. The first major benefit is that you have a blank canvas to create the eSports organization you have always envisioned! From the physical buildings where you will host tournaments, how you recruit players and coming up with your own league rules and bylaws, you have substantially more administrative and creative controls over the league.

The second major benefit of starting an independent eSports league is that you can run the league more like a for-profit business that would typically be able to with a school-affiliated league. Most colleges and universities have to be mindful of how they monetize services and organizations on campus, however, by running an independent eSports league you are effectively creating your own business. Thus you have endless opportunities to develop a profitable eSports business.

Now that you have decided to go independent, it’s time you put your entrepreneur hat on to start to figure out how the heck to get started! The good news is that all of the previous informational tips in the school-affiliated eSports leagues section could still be useful, so if you skipped those sections make sure to go back and read them.

As with any entrepreneur, if you are going to build a successful organization, you will need to start building from the ground up. Often, aspiring eSports league founders think the process is easy and will only require recruiting players, securing a venue to host tournaments, and an internet connection. Although this could be a starting point, if you really want to take your league to the next level you will need to plan and execute on the following components.

Put in management and organizational structure

Often the most overlooked aspect of an eSports organization is the criticality of having a strong management structure. The fact is, you need your eSports teams and players to spend all of their time training and participating in tournaments and ladders because this most likely will be the primary source of revenue generation for the league. Due to this, you will need to offload all other non-gaming logistics to a completely different person, or multiple people, in order to keep things running efficiently.

For example, your players and teams should have a team or league manager that should function as a single point of contact for all issues. If a player is having issues with another player on their team, the manager should be the point of contact to help resolve. Or if a player is having problems with their paycheck, the manager should be the point of contact for matters relating to any payments. Or even if a player needs time away from the team to deal with personal issues, the manager should be the point of contact relating to time off. The point is, you should provide a management resource that is an escalation point for teams and players.

Here are a few examples of some of the management positions you can deploy in your eSports league:

• Team Manager: functions as the primary point of contact and escalation point for all team and player-related issues.
• Operations Manager: responsible for facilitating tournaments, internal competitions, and scheduling.
• Marketing Manager: responsible for building external partnerships with vendors, advertisers, and creating league brand awareness.

Now keep in mind that we aware that when you are starting a new eSports league that you probably won’t have a management structure and you as a founder will most likely be responsible for all of the management roles in your organization. Don’t worry this is completely normal and most new leagues probably will not have this on day one. The point is that regardless if you have one person or ten people facilitating management decisions, it’s essential that you start your management planning today.

Determine the legal stuff for the organization

This is the part that usually overwhelms most aspiring eSports league founders, and they often end up quitting before they ever get started. Don’t let this scare you! It is important to keep in mind that the legal requirements for things such as creating a business structure (i.e., corporation, LLC, sole-proprietorships) or legal requirements surrounding player contracts are meant to provide you with a set of guidelines that you can use in your eSports league. This is great because these guidelines can help you make informed decisions about the right and wrong ways to operate your eSports league.

For example, you may want the players in your league to be contractors working on commission, instead of permanent salaried employees. If this is the case, you will want to make sure your player contracts are using the right legal terminology, and you are managing players correctly. Or, to start you may not be paying players at all, and you want to make sure that the player contracts accurately communicate this in writing. These are just a few examples, but we always recommend having a conversation with a licensed legal representative before creating player contracts.

There are a ton of online legal resources that can help you navigate through your specific legal questions and put your mind at ease when creating your eSports league. One resource to help you with your answers to legal questions is FindLegalForms.com which can help provide you with services such as legal business forms, taxes, contracts, and finding a lawyer.

How to finance your eSports league

There a ton of different ways to finance a new eSports league including bartering services, bootstrapping, finding private investors, or even crowdfunding campaigns. These all can be helpful to get your new eSports league off of the ground. It is important to note that there is not a right way or wrong way to finance your new league. In fact, you might find that many aspiring eSports league founders simply bootstrap a league with very little money, or are able to secure significant capital from private equity investors. Regardless of how you find money to start your league, one thing is for sure: you will need a set chunk of change to get your eSports league up and running. Here’s some more information on how you can finance your league: 

• Barter goods and services: In the early days, you may be able to swap or trade services with another organization to help you get started such as doing work marketing work for a private co-working space in exchange for access to their venue space after hours to host your tournaments. This is a great way to get started when capital (i.e., money) is limited, and you can exchange work for someone else’s resources.
• Bootstrapping: This is perhaps the most common route that aspiring league founders will take when trying to build their eSports empires! Bootstrapping means merely using your own resources to accomplish a goal. In this case, you will simply use your own money and resources to help get the league off the ground.
• Private investors & crowdfunding: Finding private investors can often be challenging, particularly for new eSports leagues that haven’t yet produced sustained business results to show the future potential of the league. However, this is one of the best times in history for aspiring eSports league founders due to the limitless possibilities that can come from access to equity and crowdfunding websites. Sites like StartEngine, SeedInvest, and GoFundMe allow you to create marketing campaigns in an effort to seek funding for your project. Once you decide on a funding platform, check out sites like Krowdster that can help you promote your crowdfunding campaigns even more!
• Start looking for brand sponsors** (MUST READ): There is a lot of confusion about eSports sponsorships, so we created an entire article here.

Create a professional website for the eSports league

In this internet-driven world, having a strong website is an essential part of building the brand of an eSports league. People will not be able to find information about your league if you don’t have a website. So if you want your eSports league to be successful, this is a must-do. Check out this full article to know more, or here are some of our recommended resources for building a strong website.

Educational resources for building your eSport league website: Although we all spend a tremendous amount of time on websites every day, building websites isn’t something that most people do on a daily basis. And even though building an eSports league website of your own may look like an impossible task, put your fears to rest because there are ton resources online that will walk you through the process step by step! Websites such as udemy or Coursera can provide you with a ton of video resources to learn how to build your own custom website and also other web building tips. Although there are many website building platforms, we recommend always using WordPress to build your professional eSports league website.

Customer service when it comes to web hosting is extremely important, particularly when you have important questions that need to be answered quickly or if your site goes down and require immediate support. Another option for hosting is Bluehost, a long-standing pillar in the web hosting industry. Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting options out there and also offers a wide array of hosting options that should fit your needs.

WordPress themes eSports league website: Themes are the templates/layouts that you can use on your WordPress site. There are literally thousands of themes to choose from and finding the right theme for your eSports website will likely take some research to find the perfect one! One option for finding the perfect theme for your eSports league site is ThemeForest. ThemeForest has over 10+  themes to choose from that are eSports and gaming related. Another option is MyThemeShop which also has a ton of available themes and could be a good option in the search for an awesome theme for your eSports league website! Remember, having a great theme for your WordPress site helps to create a positive brand image of your eSports league. So make sure to find an awesome and contemporary theme!

Hiring a freelancer to help build your eSports league website and brand: Somewhere in the midst of starting your own eSports league at some point, you will come to the realization that having an extra pair of hands will definitely come in handy. The truth is, outsourcing some or all of your workload to professional freelancers isn’t just a great idea, it can also be essential to building your online presence, particularly if you are lacking the time or skills to get things done quickly. There are numerous websites that offer freelancer services, including Fiverr. Fiverr is a great website to find freelancers that specialize in digital marketing, graphics and design, and video and animation services. This includes services such as creating your website logo or helping you establish a social media presence for your brand. The great thing about Fiverr is that the pricing for services is very competitive so most likely you can find something within your budget, and you can likely get work done quickly.

Other services to support your eSports league presence

Email Marketing: One important factor should keep in mind as you build your eSports league website, at some point, you may have hundreds or thousands of people visiting your website daily. Your league website is a great opportunity to grow your league following and engage fans with news regarding tournaments, players, and blog content. One of the best methods for engaging your eSports league fans is through email marketing. Email marketing typically includes providing an email sign form on your site and allowing visitors to opt-in to future emails from your eSports league. Two great platforms for engaging your eSports league fans via email marketing is Aweber and Constant Contact.

SEO Marketing: Although you are creating a unique eSports league website, the fact of the matter is that as eSports becomes increasingly popular, more people are going to be creating their own eSports leagues as well. Due to this, the competition is going to increase amongst websites, as they all fight to be one of the first results on search engines. Even if you are planning on starting small local eSports league, it will be advantageous for your eSports league brand if your site was one of the first to come up on search results when people on the internet  search terms such as “eSports leagues in Cleveland” or “best local eSports league.” SEO stands for search engine optimization, which basically means making your site more readable to search engines. The better your eSports league website SEO, the more likely it will have a good shot at ranking higher on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. In addition, there are tools out there that can help you identify SEO opportunities on your website, and also provide great data on what your competition is doing as well! Two great platforms for SEO optimization for your eSports league website is SEMRush and SEOPressor.

Spread the word on social media: This should come as no surprise, but social media is running the world! In fact, many would argue that having a strong social media presence for any organization, including en eSport league, is necessary if you want your brand to get exposure. Enlisting the help of a dedicated piece of software to help manage your eSports league social media presence can enhance your marketing campaign efforts to many potential eSports fans! Without the use of social media marketing software, your eSports could be missing out on opportunities to grow your social media presence. You can create your own social media pages for your eSports league without the use of software, but as you decide to increase your overall effectiveness of social media marketing efforts you might want to enlist the help of a dedicated solution. Two great platforms for social media marketing for your eSports league website is SocialPilot and Crowdfire.

Join a LAN eSports gaming club

What is a LAN eSports gaming club?

If you are looking to jump right into building your eSports league, by far the fastest way to get started is to join a LAN eSports gaming club. In case you’re wondering, LAN stands for local area network, a networking term which means a computer network that spans a relatively small area. LAN clubs are dedicated and independent gaming facilities that typically charge by the hour, and you have full access to powerful professional gaming computers, traditional game consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, high-end monitors, and other gaming equipment. The beauty of LAN eSports gaming clubs is that for a simple fee, all you need to do is recruit players for your league, designate team training times with the LAN, and work with the LAN to handle any facility-related issues as it pertains to your league play.

Benefits of a LAN

One great aspect of LAN clubs is that they cater to eSports leagues and also independent gamers. This mixed environment of formal teams and independent players creates an awesome environment to meet players and recruit players, talk strategy, and be knee-deep in the world of eSports. In addition, these clubs often stay open very late so it gives gamers the opportunity to practice past normal business hours. Lastly, all of the gaming infrastructures is already in place, so all you need to do is pay the fee and you can start up an eSports league today.

Drawbacks of a LAN

One of the biggest downsides to LAN clubs is that there aren’t very many locations in most cities. In fact, many cities don’t have any at all. We expect that over the next 5 years, more LAN clubs will begin popping up in cities across the US as the popularity of the eSports industry also continues to grow. Make sure to check to see if your city has any LAN eSports gaming clubs.

Another downside to LAN clubs is that they are often in small venues, which don’t have a lot of available gaming stations. So you may find it challenging to schedule dedicated training times for your league, or the club may not have enough stations available to run a full team exhibition match against other teams. Keep in mind, these LAN clubs are often extremely popular and in high demand not just with eSports leagues and teams, but also independent players.

Another downside to LAN clubs is that they can be expensive over the course of long-term usage. We have seen pricing anywhere from $4-$10/hr per player. The hourly rate is often depending on the type of package that is purchased, and typically rates for eSports teams have a lower hourly rate per player than let’s say walk-ins.

Breaking down the math

Looking at the math, if you have an eSports league that has two teams of five players that practice at least 30 hours per week. If the LAN club charges you $4/hr per player, at the end of the month the cost would be whopping $4,800 just for paid training time! Keep in mind, this number is assuming you can even get that much-dedicated training time with a LAN. In addition, this number also doesn’t include any other expenses such as purchasing refreshments and meals for players, or any other incidental cost along the way.

And now it’s time to start your own eSports league

The road to starting your own eSports organization has many intersections and opportunities. So where exactly do you go from here? The first place to start is to make sure that starting your own eSports league is something that you are fully committed to and have a passion for pursuing. You are entering this process at the best time in the history of eSports because your vision for eSports league infamy is unique and could one day impact the sport in a very exciting way!

Whether it’s deciding to start with a school-affiliated league or going independent, there is no right or wrong way to approach moving forward. The only way you can go wrong is to simply not start at all. We would recommend taking a lesson from each of the methods and using that information to create a hybrid approach to start an eSports league.

eSports as an industry is still maturing and the opportunities are literally endless. If you want to start an eSports league, but are not ready to move forward, there are plenty of other ways you can get involved. Check out our other popular eSports articles such as how to become a pro eSports gamer in 8 steps and 10 best tips to get a job in eSports.