On December 11, Riot Games announced the list of long-term partners of the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) in China, and the TEC Sports Esports Club of Sports Media Group was selected as part of the league's long-term partners. When the news came, everyone on the sports esports team was in a state of excitement.
As Riot Games' new masterpiece after League of Legends, Valorant has a huge room for imagination, which is the consensus of the industry for this game. For Sports Media Group, becoming a long-term partner of VCT CN is an important part of the future development of e-sports business. Tang Yangke was not only happy, but also deeply felt a great responsibility. As the founder of the e-sports business segment of the sports group and the chairman of the e-sports company of the group, he clearly knows that from this moment on, the sports e-sports has entered the door of globalization, and the future will face those e-sports giants with good heritage and strength.
In the esports industry chain, clubs are one of the protagonists, at least an important player. In fact, ever since we joined the Peace Elite Pro League, I've been encouraging the team to find the right time to expand into new projects. The achievements in the field of esports over the years have given us the confidence to move to a higher level. Mr. Tang's office is typical of business, with items closely related to his business, such as signed jerseys and world maps, but the most eye-catching thing is the red and black gaming chair behind him.
This gaming chair was only changed this summer after TEC Peace Elite won the overall championship of the 2023 PEL Summer Championship. "I hope to add more elements of esports to this space, so that everyone who comes to them can feel the DNA of sports esports, especially after the team wins the national championship. ”
TEC Sports E-sports Club is actually still very young, and it has only been established for three years now, but for the sports media group to which it belongs, the fate with e-sports has spanned 6 years. From the initial business start, to the deep cultivation of e-sports marketing, to the acquisition and operation of e-sports clubs, Sports Media Group has stepped into the center of the spotlight step by step. A traditional sports company can embrace e-sports so deeply, which in Tang Yangke's view, is the secret of the sports media group being good at grasping the pulse of the times and moving forward.
More than 20 years ago, Sports Weekly became the most influential sports newspaper in China with the boom in football. 15 years ago, taking advantage of the Beijing Olympic Games, the sports media group extended a variety of forms such as all-sports, dunk, golf magazines and publications. Six years ago, Sports Media Group resolutely plunged into the blue ocean of e-sports and cleaved waves on the road of integrated development of "sports + e-sports". And now, the sports world has a "ticket" in hand and is among the top players. "Previously it may have only been seen on the periphery, but once you jump into it, you find more opportunities inside. Tang Yangke said.
Internationalization + sports + state-owned enterprise brand: the winning code of e-sports in the sports world.
In the development process of the e-sports industry, the emergence of a phenomenal game project often changes the pattern of an industry. In the past two years, Valorant has been like a dark horse, breaking through national boundaries and setting off a whirlwind of esports around the world.
According to statistics from foreign ** esports charts, the number of active players in the Valorant Global Championship in the 2022 season ranks first among major esports seasons, more than the number of people in the League of Legends World Championship**. In just a few years, it quickly attracted the participation of many esports clubs, and even football superstars Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi joined in as club owners.
In China, the development of Valorant esports has also accelerated, with the establishment of the Americas, the Pacific, and EMEA, and the China region has become the last piece of the puzzle in the global map of Valorant esports.
Therefore, when Riot Games announced its plans for the 2024 VCT esports season and recruited long-term partners in China, it immediately attracted the attention of countless domestic esports clubs and capital.
Before all this happened, the sports media group had heard the call of opportunity on the cusp of the industry.
But in order to occupy a place in this competition, Tang Yangke admitted frankly that he must first "convince himself". The world of esports is all about strength, both on and off the field, and "entering the game" means that you have to face higher requirements and greater challenges. "In fact, in the past three years, the revenue of the sports e-sports business segment has grown rapidly, and in the case of the overall economic environment slowing down, it has also increased at an annual growth rate of more than 30%, becoming the most concerned sector of the group. "Whether or not to go into a completely new track, and with such a fierce competition, is not an easy decision for the sports group.
On the premise that there is no seat fee, the league puts forward higher standards for clubs that meet the application conditions, and examines them from four key dimensions: management situation, business plan, brand and market plan, competition training team building and talent training. An established powerhouse like EDG has proven itself in VCT events, and as one of the first teams to establish a Valorant division, their strength and experience are top-notch "stepping stones".
The wheels of time wait no one. Tang Yang Ke can realize that the global integrated competition system of Valorant and the international development direction of the sports group are two-way.
In fact, internationalization has always been the label and feature of the sports media group. Since 2000, the sports world has set up overseas reporter stations and companies, introduced top foreign copyrights, including French team newspapers, American golf masters, runners' world, outdoor, etc., and cooperated with international sports organizations, clubs and top stars. "E-sports has become the common language of Generation Z around the world, and entering e-sports is also an inevitable choice for sports groups to further internationalize and tell the story of Chinese sports culture to the outside world. Tang Yangke said.
Coupled with the sports genes of the sports e-sports sector, TEC has become one of the 10 long-term partners to snatch an open bidding seat from a number of old clubs and powerful capital parties.
It's a ticket to the world's most valuable esports league, and it's a sign of a new era for sports esports.
From sports weekly to sports e-sports, the heart of the 20th year has remained the same: to be friends with young people.
If joining the Valorant League is the embodiment of the achievements of the Sports Media Group in the layout of e-sports business for many years, then the deep integration of traditional sports and e-sports is the path choice made by the sports world in the general direction. However, this path is not easy to do, and it requires a keen insight into the direction of the industry.
When Sports Media Group set out to enter the esports industry, the entire market was experiencing rapid growth. According to the "2022 Asian E-sports Industry Development Report", the scale of e-sports users in China in 2016 was 1600 million, reaching 400 million by 2020. It was during this period of time that the sports group began to lay out the e-sports industry, copying the gene of "authority comes from professionalism" in the sports world to the creation of e-sports.
Tang Yangke thought more clearly at that time, e-sports has entered the first period, behind which represents a new generation of young people, and young people have always been the group and direction that the sports world wants to grasp, "Although it is from the beginning of the first form, we must also consider how to lay out the entire industrial chain from then on." It's like playing chess, not just looking at the one move in front of you, but looking at three moves or even further. ”
In this rapidly developing market, the strategy adopted by the sports group is to take advantage of the advantages in the traditional sports field, take the first as the entry point, explore the new model of "sports + e-sports", and open up the resources of the sports group's layout: star brokerage, sports marketing, overseas markets, stadiums, sports training, sports, etc., can be integrated and developed with the sports e-sports business sector to form a chain closed loop.
Of course, today, the success of the sports esports business proves the correctness of this judgment, but it was also an extremely bold decision back then. Although as early as 2003, the General Administration of Sports of China listed e-sports as an official sport, for a long time the social acceptance of this was very limited.
Speaking of which, the exploration of esports in sports can actually be traced back about 20 years. Tang Yangke still remembers it clearly, "In the office next door, we planned to publish an e-sports game publication, and the content and sample were ready, but we couldn't do it due to various reasons in the industry. In recent years, as one of the practitioners in the e-sports industry, Tang Yangke's biggest feeling is that the definition of e-sports has gradually become clear to the outside world, and the development of e-sports has also experienced a process of big waves in recent years.
In 2021, three months after the establishment of Hunan Sports Interactive Entertainment Sports Culture Development***, a subsidiary of Sports Media Group, it acquired the e-sports club GM5. In the same year, TEC Sports Esports Club made its debut in the 2021 PEL Peace Elite Pro League S1 season.
In Tang Yangke's words, the sports media group in the field of e-sports is step by step from a first-class observer, to an assistant in e-sports marketing, and then to a participant in the club, becoming one of the protagonists in this industry.
Strengthen every step and build strength from within.
From the initial attempt to form an e-sports club, to today's continuous exploration and development, the sports group has gradually grown into an important member of the e-sports industry. The most obvious change is that through the accumulation of practice, the team has been able to better understand and integrate into the operating rules of the esports industry.
In 2017, the League of Legends World Championship came to China for the first time, and the domestic e-sports boom was unprecedented. In fact, at that time, Tang Yangke also had the idea of entering the LPL, but in the end, the sports group chose to wait and see.
In retrospect, it was a sound choice. It is true that there are more than 400 million esports users in China, but the profitability of esports clubs themselves is quite challenging. To some extent, as a new entrant, Sports Media Group also lacked an understanding of the club's ecology at that time. In Tang Yangke's own words, at that time, "I hadn't even finished the warm-up activities." ”
The so-called "warm-up activities" are implemented in action step by step, moving forward steadily. This process lasted 6 years. In the past few years, the business revenue of the sports e-sports sector has grown significantly, and every step has been solid, and finally found its place in the e-sports world.
Interestingly, teams within the sports esports world sometimes compare their TEC esports club to Borussia Dortmund in traditional sports clubs – although there is only one Elite Peaceball branch, the club always brings positive returns with each transfer. One of the most positive returns is because of the excellent talent training system.
This also relies on the profound resources and talent strength of the sports group behind it in the field of sports brokerage. Fan Hao Sports is currently the largest football domestic aid agency in China, with dozens of Chinese Super League players.
In 2023, TEC Sports Esports Club marked an absolute year of success with its outstanding performance to win the first PEL League championship in the team's history.
When asked how the club's performance has stabilized in the first echelon in a short period of time, Chen Xiaopeng, head of sports esports, attributed such a breakthrough to "the operation ideas of traditional sports, long-term operation, combined with an excellent training team, and steady operation in the transfer market. ”
The club's track accelerates, highlighting the ambitions of e-sports giants.
It's fair to say that all of these factors have built a deep moat for sports esports, making it stand out in the Valorant league and earn a valuable seat for long-term partners.
In the e-sports industry, the commercial value is mainly based on e-sports users and e-sports events, and the huge degree of popularity and brand promotion channels are largely based on e-sports projects. Therefore, the inclusion of more e-sports projects can bring more opportunities for sports e-sports, and also herald the arrival of a more prosperous ecosystem and diversified market layout. All of these together build a super entrance that integrates traffic and revenue.
For future development, Tang Yangke believes that in the process of e-sports sports, a healthy club ecology is still the top priority. He has proposed a three-fold "health" dimension for esports clubs: performance, financial well-being, and the ecological potential of the club. From the perspective of e-sports club managers, competitive performance and financial status are quantifiable indicators, while ecological potential involves the development of the operating system, talent training, fan interaction, and industrial chain.
With the expansion of the E-sports Club of Sports Media Group, the E-sports business of Sports Media Group will also usher in greater ecological potential. "There is the potential for convergence between the various business segments of sports and esports, such as our e-commerce, New Trends magazine, event and venue management, etc. In the future, will we be able to operate dedicated esports venues?Is it possible to have your own event section and combine it with the esports section?There's a lot of room for imagination. ”
As depicted in the TEC Valorant club's slogan "Tiger Out of the Mountain", joining the Valorant League as a long-term partner of the CN region means injecting the powerful energy accumulated in the sports world for more than 30 years into this dynamic new field. "In the world of esports, the sport world has taken a solid first step, which is to stand firm and familiarize yourself with the rules. Next, we will set even higher goals and strive to become the next big player in the esports world. Tang Yangke said.
Note: The ** used in this article is from the sports group.