English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur plans on staging esports tournaments at its new 61,000-capacity stadium, which is due to open next year.
Tottenham already has a deal in place to stage American football games at the new stadium, which will have a retractable pitch to allow for NFL fixtures.
The club is also keen on tapping into the ever-expanding esports market to maximise the stadium’s capabilities. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, Tottenham could earn up to £3m (€3.5m/$3.9m) from each event staged at the ground.
“We have looked at a vision for the club and stadium,” Tottenham’s executive director, Donna-Maria Cullen, said, according to the Mail. “We are bringing the NFL over here. One of the reasons was to create something more significant (than just a football club) in Tottenham, in order to kickstart the regeneration of the area.
“The sliding pitch we are installing means we will be able to host more concerts and other events. The NFL has driven up standards in our stadium. We will have new audiences coming into the stadium.
“The football stadium will be available to watch esports, which regularly attract crowds of 50-60,000 spectators in Korea and the US, and could prove to be another opportunity to monetise the structure.”
Premier League clubs such as Manchester City and West Ham United have professional esports players, which compete in Fifa 17 tournaments. Top-tier European leagues including the French Ligue 1, Austrian Bundesliga and Dutch Eredivisie also have their own esports competitions.
Tottenham played its last match at White Hart Lane yesterday (Sunday), picking up a 2-1 win over Manchester United. The club will play its home games at Wembley next season while its new ground is being built next to White Hart Lane.
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