So, I just wanted us all to kind of connect,
and get on the same page in terms of
what the communication plan is for
when we announce Fusion Arena.
But, I figure before we dive into this,
we could watch the final video.
Wow.
Oh, this is so hype.
Oh, that's straight to the top of the Reddit.
This is going to be the first stadium,
built just for video games in the United States.
And, they're building it in Philadelphia,
a town known for its, well, passionate fans.
Eagles!
In fact, here is where the Eagles play,
and that's the Phillies Stadium.
The Fusion Arena, as it'll be called,
will be right in the center of Philadelphia sports.
This is the story of how Comcast,
is building on the passion of Philadelphia sports fans,
to create a global eSports juggernaut.
Leading that endeavor,
is this man, Tucker Roberts.
And, it's worth noting that
he's not just any casually-dressed executive.
He also happens to be the son of Comcast CEO,
Brian Roberts, and grandson of Ralph Roberts,
the Co-Founder of the company,
which is now worth nearly $200 billion.
I've been a gamer all my life,
much to the chagrin of my parents and my grades.
But when online gaming started,
that really was a game changer for me,
in terms of connecting people to other people,
I thought was so fascinating,
and now everybody plays video games, today,
in every single country.
And so, when you think about
how big is that business opportunity,
it could be the biggest one of all of them.
Comcast is joining a growing field
of media and sports titans that are investing in eSports,
including Michael Jordan, Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones,
and Atlanta's Cox Communications.
But, the company isn't new to sports entertainment.
The US' largest cable provider
has invested heavily in sports throughout the years.
Just look at their flagship market of Philadelphia,
where it's nearly impossible to separate Comcast
from the local sports teams.
Comcast owns broadcasting rights
to nearly all Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers games,
and even has full ownership of the Flyers
and their stadium, the Wells Fargo Center.
Traditional sports, or sports in general,
is the DVR proof event of our time,
and it always kind of will stand the test of time.
This is Joe Marsh.
for this new division of Comcast, and believes esports
can be a large part of the company's business.
In terms of what gaming could be
for Comcast-Spectacor and the company,
I really think it could be a billion dollar business.
To put that in perspective,
after 50 years, their ice hockey franchise,
the Flyers, have yet to hit a valuation
over a billion dollars.
Comcast's investment in esports began in 2017,
when they purchased the Overwatch League franchise
for $20 million, borrowing the color scheme
of the Flyers, they named the team Fusion,
and began to try to build a fan base.
We were starting as a non endemic team,
with zero followers, so how do you build a fan base
from thin air, without making it inauthentic?
'Cause you can buy fans,
but that's not how we were gonna build our team.
Most of the players to the Fusion live here
in this large suburban home, outside of LA,
decked out with Overwatch imagery, gaming PCs,
and even a personal chef.
The biggest thing I think we've done,
especially around our content is that,
the branding and the imagery you see of our team,
is very Philly-centric.
It's very Philly-based.
Even though the team
is made of mostly international players,
the Fusion's YouTube channel is filled with videos
of players wearing Philadelphia team shirts,
opening care packages of Tastykake and WAWA Coffee.
And, yes, even Gritty makes an appearance.
But, all of this content isn't about the game.
It's about the players themselves.
esports fans want to see everything our guys do.
What they ate for breakfast,
Chef Heidi's posting that on Twitter.
If they hit the gym,
or played around with the soccer net,
the difference of esports and regular sports is,
you can see yourself in the Fusion players.
We wanna give you that access to feel like
you're part of the team because, one day you could be.
And that's the dream that we're trying to help foster.
What also helped their popularity, was winning.
The Fusion is going to the Grand Finals!
The Fusion became that underdog team,
that worked its way from the bottom of the playoffs,
all the way to the finals.
And even though the team lost to the London-based franchise,
their fans were there to support them.
15,000 people or so, there at the finals,
cheering as the Fusion come out.
And, my family got to be there with me,
which was really special.
It was a surreal experience for me to go,
"Wow, it went from fights about the Wi-Fi
"at 2 a.m when I was in middle school to
"here I am and they're all cheering for my team."
There's a chance Tucker succeeds his father,
at the top of Comcast, someday,
much as Brian took over from his dad 17 years ago.
But, that's getting ahead of things.
There are more pressing concerns.
While Overwatch enjoyed initial success
with its release in 2016,
its average views on Twitch have decreased over time.
And, when we visited a regular season match at,
Blizzard arena in Burbank, California.
The 530 seat theater was less than half full
on a Friday night.
But, Tucker is still betting on the side of eSports,
and nowhere is that more apparent,
than the $50 million investment in the Fusion Arena,
set to break ground in the next few months.
The Fusion Arena is going to be the first of its kind.
It's gonna be, in my opinion,
the best arena for eSports in North America.
It'll be a 3500 capacity purpose-built venue.
It's gonna be kind of like an EDM concert,
but you're gonna be watching the Fusion.
While the Fusion Arena bears the name
of their Overwatch team, it serves a purpose
beyond just that game.
For Comcast, it's a longterm play,
to reach a global audience.
There's global market that will benefit
from this gaming hub being built in Philadelphia.
It's an attractive place for a lot of games
to have their events.
You're going to be able to get viewership
in the West Coast, but also in Europe,
and you're going to be able to do it
at a fraction of the cost
of some of the other cities on the East Coast.
And, after a recent venture with SK Telecom,
South Korea's largest wireless carrier,
and owner of a wildly successful eSports team...
The undisputed, best team in the world,
the SK Team reign continues...
Comcast hopes to diversify their foothold
in multiple games.
The new entity, T1 Entertainment and Sports,
expands their game portfolio
into some of the most popular esports franchises,
League of Legends, Hearthstone, PUBG, and more.
Really, what we're gonna do there is enhance
everything that our South Korean counterparts have done,
and now the plan is to take that model,
and go global with it.
But for now, the Fusion Arena
is still just a parking lot,
across the street from the Eagles Stadium.
A new report puts global esports revenue
at just over $1 billion dollars, this year.
In comparison, global revenue
for the traditional leagues and teams,
is around $100 billion.
And if you include all the industry around the sports,
revenue is estimated to be $1 trillion.
So, if Tucker wants to make his mark
on his family's business with a global esports empire,
one that could even rival their traditional sports empire,
it's gonna take time.
And, for it to work, a whole new community of sports fans,
will need to emerge.
To build a gaming arena in South Philadelphia,
kind of legitimizes what we're doing.
Like, "Look, we're right in the heart
"of South Philadelphia Sports Complex."
I'm a huge Philly Sports fan,
so it's really a dream come true to work on something
that represents the city.
There's such a strong community within our Fusion Discord.
They're coming up with sometimes even without us,
just saying, "Hey, who wants to meet up over here,
"and play some games, or go to this movie, together?"
And so, the fact that we fostered that in any small way,
is really awesome to see, and makes everything worth it.