Tournaments play an attention-grabbing role in esports. Tournaments for titles like Dota 2 and League of Legends constantly make headlines for their prize pools and unparalleled viewership. They provide players and teams an opportunity to compete for cash prizes and notoriety. Winning titles and constant publicity lead to coveted sponsorships for teams and individual players alike. As an added bonus, esports tournaments bring an influx of business to the area and can put certain venues on the map for future use.
Planning or hosting tournaments also comes with a range of legal considerations. To protect your interests and safeguard participants and spectators alike, ask an experienced esports attorney at our law firm to assist with logistics, contracting and forming the appropriate team around you. At KJK, our team guides players, sponsors, teams, venues and industry professionals, successfully negotiating contracts, planning events and building connections within esports.
Things to Consider:
How Can KJK Help a Prospective Esports Venue Owner?
Gamer stations and esports venues utilize state-of-the-art, expensive equipment for the players. Esports are unique due to the limitless potential for angles and viewpoints provided by in-game observers that offer unparalleled flexibility and movement. Tournament arenas must broadcast real-time gameplay on large, high-def screens for the spectators. All of this requires the fastest, high-quality Wi-Fi and connections.
Whether you’re building a brand-new esports venue from the ground up, repurposing a standing building to outfit a plug-and-play model, or adapting a current convention center for the action, venues must be able to provide all these essentials. This requires addressing possible issues, contracting to protect the venue itself from liability, and managing your vendors to provide what is expected. This is why an attorney with esports-specific knowledge is needed instead of a typical business attorney.
For a successful esports tournament or other event, you’ll need to work with teams, players, sponsors, spectators and promoters, and KJK has those relationships. KJK has assisted with purely online events, in-person tournaments of varying sizes, and the day-to-day event planning to attract clientele.
A KJK Lawyer Can Help you...
- Assemble a team to build or repurpose your own esports arena, including design, construction, technical outfitting, sponsorships, etc.
- Handle contracting with players, teams and sponsors, ensuring your venue is keenly represented in negotiations.
- Navigate intellectual property issues and planning, including when streaming or broadcasting on platforms such as Twitch.
Find the Right Funding for You
Whether you’re building from the ground up or on the road to hosting your event, funding becomes the most important element. Determining the right funding depends on the scope of the project and whether you’re willing to give up any of your company ownership. The KJK Esports team can help determine your greatest path to success and your first check.
When starting a new esports company or building a new venue, you may be willing to part with some ownership to get your idea off the ground. KJK assists with valuing your company, creating pitch decks for potential investors, presenting the opportunity to possible investors and helping you determine your needs so maintain the amount of control you desire.
If your esports business has some traction, you want to look for multiple streams of income. One of the most prominent streams in esports is sponsorships. Sponsorships vary from signage and naming, rights to broadcast branding and beyond. The KJK Esports team can act as matchmaker, connecting your esports venue or business with sponsors and companies interested in becoming part of the expanding esports world.
With the growing popularity of esports, sponsorships have spread beyond tech or gaming companies. Non-endemic brands like Visa and Audi have ventured into esports sponsorship because the esports community doesn’t fit into one stereotype as previously thought. Gamers and spectators alike come from all walks of life and companies want to capitalize on these opportunities to market. KJK’s ability to directly contact, pitch to and negotiate with major brands is an asset to any company or venue owner.
Content Protection
Streaming has come to the forefront as a top revenue earner for players, content creators, venues and gaming companies. Even ESPN broadcasts gaming now, so the question of who owns the content can be enough to start a fight. Issues regarding content protection, Intellectual Property rights and copyrighting are constantly arising. Everyone adjacent to a popular stream wants to claim ownership over it, including the player, venue, content creator, gaming company and the sponsor or team. Who actually owns the content depends on the contracts negotiated for and preset terms of service for streaming and gaming companies.
KJK can be involved from the initial negotiation of terms, clear through the final contract redline to ensure clients receive the rights they deserve. KJK involvement clearly outlines the expectations for all parties involved which promotes positive relationships and repeat collaborations.
Your KJK esports attorney ensures you don’t unknowingly sign over your rights to valuable content, and that you respect the rights of others. Being proactive can prevent long, drawn-out legal battles over content rights, which become costly, create bad press and ruin valuable relationships.
Things to Consider:
Protect Against Liability at Your Esports Venue
A hot topic in the Esports world is Intellectual Property or IP and who owns it. This concept includes whether a player’s stream is their property, the game maker’s property or their sponsor’s property.
Determining who owns IP in Esports can be complicated, and it’s best to work with an Esports events attorney who has dealt with this issue previously.
Another common Esports event pitfall is the issue of liability. If you fail to provide a safe space, an event goer could sue you if they receive an injury because of your negligence. Having sufficient liability insurance and an attorney experienced in protecting large venues from liability claims is essential.
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Let KJK Promote Your Events
Venues and players alike capitalize on the free publicity through social media. KJK has the resources to professionally manage social media accounts while still appealing to the true gamer. An active presence is vital and KJK’s assistance varies from sporadic advice to actively managing accounts to stay relevant online.
In addition to social media, KJK can help with classic digital marketing techniques, ensuring your website is searchable and up-to-date. KJK also assists with email marketing to advertise your upcoming events through an email list of focused, relevant contacts.
How KJK Can Help With Event Production
Unlike other law firms, KJK’s esports team has extensive experience producing and marketing events. Whether you traditionally transact outside of esports and are looking to add esports events to your schedule or run an esports-focused business, we routinely assist with digital marketing and business development. KJK routinely connects companies with sponsors, players and teams, depending on their need, and helps to run events from inception through completion.
We’re Here for you:
Contact the KJK Esports Team Today
Prior to agreeing to contract terms, starting your venue build, or signing on to host your first event, contact the KJK Esports team for a consultation.