Page 1301 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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looking to build local interest by holding matches in each city in the near future. This model operates in much the same way that an individual is able to support their local football team and occasionally go along to watch them play live and purchase their merchandise to show their support.
Just recently, Philadelphia’s Overwatch League team announced its plans to build an e-sports arena to host its matches, the first dedicated stadium for e-sports in the United States. Relevantly, the decision was made to build the stadium in the same precinct as the city’s NFL and NBA sports complex, with the expectation that the stadium will house a training facility and a broadcast studio so that they can operate in the same way that other sports stadiums run.
However, e-sports investment is not new. In fact, the 1990 Nintendo World Championship toured across 30 cities of the United States. The finalists competed for a $10,000 prize, a 40-inch television, and a gold-painted Mario trophy. Ten years later, in our neck of the woods South Korea took the lead by establishing the Korea e-Sports Association, an arm of the ministry of sports and tourism, with the goal of solidifying the commercial position of e-sports. This forward-thinking move by the South Korean government has allowed the country to participate in and benefit from the growth of e-sports, with its video game market currently generating approximately $5 billion. For South Korea, e-sports has become a mainstream sport.
E-sports has been broadcast on TV in South Korea for 18 years now. It is quite commonplace for families and friends to watch a tournament in the evening, in much the same way that many of us will watch our traditional sporting teams play. In 2005 the world’s first e-sports stadium was built in the Yongsan district. It has since become a mecca for every e-sports fan, with the region drawing in thousands of fans every year for its championship tournaments.
What the examples of the US and South Korea make clear is that, as e-sports become more and more of a mainstream sport, fans are increasingly willing to travel to watch tournaments. The Asian Games included e-sports as a demonstration sport in 2018 and it will become a medal event in 2020, which will undoubtedly draw not only more people to the games but a more diverse audience.
Given our close proximity to Asia and current partnerships with the region, it is common sense for the ACT government to engage with the e-sports industry. There are a multitude of economic and social benefits that we will be able to attract that come in the form of research and development as well as benefits to our tourism sector. The Victorian government has already identified the potential of e-sports as a strategy to lure tournaments to Melbourne. The Melbourne Open, which is very different from the Australian Open, is set to reel in $25 million over the next five years and will give Melbourne great exposure right around the region.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I am calling on the ACT government to investigate the potential of developing an e-sports strategy. I strongly believe this presents an opportunity for Canberra to become an Australian leader in this sector and hopefully grow our visitor economy. Canberra already has strong recognition as a university city, with high numbers of international students and a young population making the
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