Spanish sports federations want to be in eSports so as “not to be left behind”

Sports federations have “the vocation that you have to be”In video game competitions or ‘sports‘ because otherwise “you will be left behind”, Said the president of the Spanish Sports Association (Adesp), José Hidalgo, during a round table at the forum ‘Global eSports Summit’.

“Among my fellow presidents of sports federations there is the vocation that you have to be there, because if you don’t you will be left behind, and therefore we are open to change”Said Hidalgo during a round table on relations between traditional sports and electronic competitions in this professional forum on ‘eSports’.

The president of the Spanish Triathlon Federation and Adesp, which groups together most of the sports federations, has recognized that “there is no common position“Among the leaders of the sport on this sector, but yes”the vocation that you have to be” in this ambit.

So much so that Adesp has proposed that eSports be included in the articles of the preliminary draft of the new Sports Law that will replace the current one, which dates from 1990. “A law for another 30 years has to be anticipated at this time “, has defended Hidalgo.

The round table was attended by both organizers of sports competitions, such as the Spanish Soccer League that organizes the eLaLiga with the FIFA video game, ‘eSports’ clubs such as Cream Real Betis or specialists in the business sector such as Webedia or the Association of Marketing of Spain.

Álvaro Mena, eLaLiga sales manager explained that for them, organizing a competition for the EA Sports FIFA video game is “a very natural step”And for them organizing competitions for other video games would not make sense.

“For LaLiga, leaving FIFA territory, which is strategic for us, today is not an option and it is not a path. We think we have a long way to go”, Highlighted Mena, who has defended that his next challenge is to organize physical competitions again after the stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CEO of Cream Real Betis, Diego Soro, has defended from the point of view of a video game club allied with a traditional football club that it is “a clear symbiosis”Since their audiences are different. “We are targeting much younger audiences, which traditional sport has a hard time reaching“, has explained.

Soro has defended that it is “a mistake to understand eSports as a next step to traditional sport“But it must be done as something different in itself, and has defined his organization as”agnostic”Regarding the video games in which he competes. “Now the most followed is ‘League of Legends’, but if it changes and it is another, we will go out and enter another”, Has opined

Sports sponsorship expert Carlos Cantó, from the Spanish Marketing Association, recalled that the spending of fans in these competitions is much lower, since in the United States an NBA fan spends about US $ 230 (198 euros, at current change) per person and year in their sport, while in ‘eSports’ that amount does not reach US $ 5 (4 euros).

In the same sense, the director of ‘eSports’ of the digital communication and entertainment company Webedia, Alberto Fernandez, explained that commercial brands are no longer interested in putting their name to a team and competition, but rather understanding how they can integrate their product on them to sell more.

“They tell me: I don’t want to sponsor your team, your competition, but I am interested in integrating my brand into your content, give me options. I don’t care about the logo, what I want is to connect with the audience”Fernández concluded during this round table at the ‘Global eSports Summit’ forum that is being held at the Kinépolis cinemas in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid).