INTHEBLACK April 2022 - Magazine - Page 49
tracks not only gaming skills, but also popularity on
social media platforms.
“Esports is still in its infancy. Right now, buying
esports teams is like buying the New York Knicks in the
early days of the NBA. Today, the Knicks are a billiondollar franchise. We buy teams at a good price, then we
surround them with diversified revenue initiatives to
become profitable,” Gutierrez says.
One way of doing that is through team sponsorships
– and this includes team members who don’t play
themselves. These are known as “cultural ambassadors”.
“Sometimes, the players themselves are not the most
exciting people in the world, so we supplement them with
gaming talent who connect our fans to different ‘verticals’
while being exclusive to our esports teams. Their main job
is to connect the team to music, movies and other passion
points that are part of a gamer’s lifestyle.”
Gutierrez’s biggest dream is for one of his teams to
produce a global esports star.
“That would really solidify our position as a company
that understands esports,” he says. “We want to break
through just being popular with the esports crowd. We
want to become an organisation with mass appeal.”
Keep an eye out for esports on a bigger stage – it’s
coming to the Olympics sooner than you think.
“ESPORTS IS STILL IN
ITS INFANCY. RIGHT
NOW, BUYING ESPORTS
TEAMS IS LIKE BUYING
THE NEW YORK KNICKS
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF
THE NBA...WE BUY
TEAMS AT A GOOD
PRICE, THEN WE
SURROUND THEM WITH
DIVERSIFIED REVENUE
INITIATIVES TO BECOME
PROFITABLE.”
Top right: The final play of
the game that won third
place for Team Counter
Logic Gaming over Team
Clutch Gaming during the
2019 LCS Summer Finals
at Little Caesars Arena in
Detroit, Michigan, in
August 2019.
Above: Participants at the
eNazionale event at
Centro Tecnico Federale di
Coverciano in Florence,
Italy, in March 2022.
FERDINAND GUTIERREZ,
AMPVERSE
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au April 2022 49