Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for 2016 Advertising Week New York
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO & Co-Founder of VaynerMedia, speaking at the Brand U Event at Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City.
- The Call of Duty League will kick off its inaugural season on January 25 with a special weekend-long event hosted by the Minnesota Rokkr.
- Media mogul and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk is one of Minnesota Rokkr's co-owners, and he spoke with Business Insider about why he chose to invest in the Call of Duty League over other esports.
- A big reason: It's organized more like traditional sports leagues, where fans in will have the chance to come see their favorite team play in their home cities - encouraging highly-engaged communities to form.
- Vaynerchuk is confident that esports will be a part of popular culture for decades to come, and sees ownership in the Call of Duty League as an investment that could last decades.
- Click here to read more stories on BI Prime.
The Call of Duty League is about to kick off its inaugural season on Jan. 24 with a weekend-long launch event, hosted by Minnesota's brand-new Rokkr franchise. The new league's 12 new teams will all be there - all of whom have reportedly ponied up at least $20 million to buy the right to participate in this first season.
Business Insider recently talked to Minnesota Rokkr co-owner Gary Vaynerchuk, the outspoken entrepreneur and CEO of VaynerMedia, about why he chose the Call of Duty League over other esports and what he expects from his investment.
Calling Vaynerchuk a big sports fan would be an understatement - his agency VaynerSports manages more than two dozen NFL players, and Vaynerchuk has been vocal about his desire to own a part of his favorite NFL team, the New York Jets. This marks his first investment in the growing world of esports, an industry he expects to become an essential part of popular culture for years to come, in the same way as certain other niche hobbies have.
"If you read articles about golf or poker - when it's not as physical, people struggle to make the connection," Vaynerchuk said about the esports industry's gradual climb into the mainstream. "Eventually chess, poker, and golf, they get their day."
Vaynerchuk said Minnesota Vikings co-owner Jonathan Wilf approached him with the idea of joining the Call of Duty League in late 2018; the franchise was announced in July as a joint venture between Vaynerchuk and WISE Ventures Esports - an offshoot of WISE Ventures, itself owned by the Wilf family, which owns the Minnesota Vikings NFL franchise.
Vaynerchuk said he's been watching the esports industry grow for years, but the long-standing popularity of "Call of Duty," Activision Blizzard's franchised business model, and his prior relationship with the Wilf family made investing in Minnesota Rokkr an ideal opportunity.
Vaynerchuk and other esports investors are betting millions that the Call of Duty League and similar ventures will resonate with a generation of young people who spend more time on average watching video games than sports.
"A 33-year-old that did not grow up in this culture. A 49-year-old didn't even think about it's existence," Vaynerchuk said. "It's awfully easy to explain to every single 12- to 22-year-old on Earth."
"This is an investment in perpetuity for me. I hope my great, great-grandkids sit around a dinner table saying how smart I was from making this investment," he later said.
'Call of Duty' is the envy of the video game world
"Call of Duty" is one of the most popular video games on the planet, with yearly releases topping the best-sellers chart. The most recent game in the series, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," made $600 million during its opening weekend.
"Call of Duty" has millions of players worldwide, but only a small percentage are involved with the game's professional community. With the Call of Duty League, Activision Blizzard sees the potential to turn the massive audience of casual "Call of Duty" players into fans of competitive esports.
The Call of Duty League is publisher Activision Blizzard's second professional gaming league - the publisher launched the Overwatch League in 2017 and it now includes 20 teams based in North America, Europe, and China.
Vaynerchuk said the strength of the "Call of Duty" brand enticed him more than other games that have built esports communities, but lack mainstream appeal. "Call of Duty" also has an annual release schedule that will allow Activision to completely refresh the game on a regular basis, whereas other esports titles can go for years without a new release.
The closest thing in esports to traditional sports leagues
Ownership in the Call of Duty League is similar to that of other major-league sports, with would-be team owners bidding on a limited number of franchise slots in the league.
Most esports depend on player sponsorships and third party organizations to finance competitions and pay players, but "Call of Duty" publisher Activision Blizzard is one of the few video game companies with the resources and desire to build and maintain a professional infrastructure around its games itself.
That makes the concept behind the Call of Duty League more accessible, and therefore more exciting, to investors like Vaynerchuk.
"The way that Activision Blizzard infrastructure is working, it's clearly to a more traditional sports framework where city involvement is key," Vaynerchuk said. And I'll be honest with you, being a chief sports fan for the last 35, 40 years of my life, that feels natural and exciting."
To his point, travel will be a major part of the Call of Duty League: Each week during the regular Call of Duty League season, a different team will play host to all 12 teams for a weekend-long event. Players will earn a salary and benefits as they travel to compete, much as they would in a more traditional sports league.
Getting fans involved on the local level
That translates to opportunity: Vaynerchuk and the Rokkr are confident that gamers and casual sports fans will be encouraged to get involved in the Call of Duty League by having a local team to cheer on. Teams can also foster local communities and events for amateur players and fans to stay engaged when the pros aren't in town.
"I think we can all agree that the dynamics of esports create an environment where [having a local team] is not as required as it is for other major sports," Vaynerchuk said. "But from a human behavior standpoint and from a tribal mentality, who do you want to root for? There are definitely some region and city-based variables that are exciting."
Vaynerchuk notes that WISE Ventures has been able to take advantage of its deep connections in Minnesota, and its ownership of the Minnesota Vikings, to support Rokkr, whereas an online-only organization would have to build its presence from scratch.
That's why the Minnesota Rokkr is taking steps to appeal to local fans: The word Rokkr itself is Norse for "Twilight of the Gods," a conscious effort to play off the popularity of the Vikings NFL team.
Indeed, WISE Ventures recently opened a 11,000 square foot esports space at the Vikings' Minneapolis practice facility. The Rokkr's launch event, which kicks off the Call of Duty League season, will take place at The Armory, a historic concert venue that was renovated and reopened to help host Super Bowl LII in 2018.
Vaynerchuk sees esports as a big part of pop culture
Rokkr's home-stand will kick off the Call of Duty League season, but Vaynerchuk said he isn't worried about being the first team to play host for the league. He said he's satisfied with the team's planning and their goal is to provide a show that generates enough excitement to keep people talking about the Call of Duty League after the weekend is over.
Vaynerchuk said a successful event will be one where "the people are so enthralled and so impressed they realize this is real and longterm. Then it creates the world of mouth where people go out to dinner on Thursday night and say to somebody else, 'Hey, you've got to follow this league,' or 'it'd be really cool if you took your kids to this.'"
Vaynerchuk said he's not concerned about the Call of Duty League's ability to generate an immediate profit, though he acknowledges that it will need to make enough money to stay in business during its early years.
"I don't even think about year one, two or 20, to be honest," Vaynerchuk said. "I think about the fact that Leon Hess bought a minority share in the New York Jets for absolutely nothing, and that Super Bowl I did not sell out. I think about NBA franchises close to bankruptcy in the early 80s, and the NBA finals being on tape delay. Now they're multi-billion-dollar franchises. So for me, I know for a fact that esports is going to be a substantial part of the culture in 20 years."
A lot to prove
Though "Call of Duty" has ruled the sales charts for more than a decade, the franchise's esports following has been relatively small in comparison.
Activision's Call of Duty League will provide players with a salary and professional support that's largely unmatched in the industry, but it remains to be seen if the corporate structure will lead the millions of casual "Call of Duty" players to follow the esports scene. Other competing shooting games with large esports communities include "Fortnite," "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," "Counter-Strike Global Offensive," and "Rainbow Six: Siege."
The Minnesota Rokkr's kick-off event for the Call of Duty League season will start on Friday, January 24 and run through Sunday, January 26. You can watch a livestream or catch a replay of the event each day on Twitch.
