Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing

from the prospecting dept

For years now, we’ve covered various milestones the esports industry has hit as it has exploded in popularity. Once relegated primarily to a few overseas markets, the past decade has seen an acceleration of the industry hitting the mainstream, from features in sports media on participants, college scholarships for esports, IRL leagues getting in the game, and even the betting markets opening up to esports gambling. While this trend began long before the world’s current predicament, it’s also true that the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered live sports for months, acted as a supercharger for all of this.

All of which contributed to the latest milestone the esports industry has managed to hit, as famed footballer David Beckham’s Guild Esports franchise has announced it plans to get listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Guild Esports, a UK-based owner and developer of esports teams, confirmed plans for an initial public offering in a statement Wednesday. The company said it wants to build a global sports franchise modeled on the English Premier League, NBA and NFL. It will float 40% of its shares next month and hopes to raise £20 million ($25.9 million) to recruit new players and invest in the business.

Beckham, a former Manchester United and England footballer, will use his global influence and following to support the Guild Esports brand, the company added. Beckham is also co-owner of Inter Miami CF, a Major League Soccer team in the United States.

The CNN post goes on to note that ad revenue in the industry for 2019 was just under a billion dollars. The point in all of this is that the difference between a beloved hobby and professional sports is the “professional” part. In other words, money. Now that esports has not only emerged as a major force in competition when it comes to ad revenues and eyeballs, but also now a place for potential owners of sporting franchises to invest very real money, the only question is just how popular and dominant esports will grow to become.

Based on the company’s plans, it has some very lofty goals.

The company plans to recruit up to 20 esports players by the end of next year, modeling player training and scouting on the talent academies pioneered by Premier League football teams.

The last milestone is probably one we’re hurtling toward at speed: when the maturity of the esports industry is so accepted that these posts on Techdirt no longer make sense to write.

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Companies: guild esports

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Comments on “Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing”

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6 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

1billion is tiny compared with advertising revenue on tv, there’s very few company’s making money on esports, many esports competitors have moved to streaming where they can make more money by streaming and donations. Esports competitions are used to raise the profile of a game by being streamed on twitch or YouTube.
Esports is kept going by sponsoring from company’s like Intel or tencent.

Nicolas says:

Great job!

Tons of Esports companies out there collecting match report and live sports score through live streaming across the globe.This modern people are not feeling comfortable and are not interested on TV show.The marketing strategy has changed due to the globalization due to improved technologies.It is not so much easy to make money online.But this original site gives information,reviews on online casino for making money.The robin hood bingo promo code is useful for the people who love gaming and earning money online.You should also change your marketing strategy according to the demands and needs of the consumers and according to the marketing strategy.Thanks for sharing this post with us.

Oliver Twein says:

Great article! I think the esports industry is developing very rapidly. Now many people are interested in it and it’s possible to make good money on such relatively new opportunities. I, for example, like to bet on sports and play casino online. For reliability of withdrawal of money I advise to use a proven system. The details are on the https://depositpp.com/. Thanks again for the news on esports.

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