Behind The Scenes At The EWC #1: Superfans

Sources say that the "superfan" promotion being pushed by participating organisations is really about padding and diversifying the lacklustre crowds

Photo supplied by Esports World Cup Press Pack

With the Esports World Cup (EWC) underway in Riyadh, several sources have come forward to share how things have been happening behind the scenes so far. The event, billed as the “largest in the world” in terms of prize money, offers participating organisations multiple ways they can earn additional money without the need to win tournaments at the event. The incentives also serve the purpose of promoting the event or helping the event deflect away from the negative attention that allegations of sportswashing bring.

Sources from within the event, requesting anonymity due to fears of reprisals, have come forward with details of these incentives and have provided their insight into why the incentive structure operates the way they do. The incentives, referred to internally as “campaigns,” present participating organisations with opportunities to earn more money by completing a number of tasks. While there are some that all are expected to undertake, such as liberal promotion via social media platforms, others are optional and require the organisation to agree to their involvement.

There are said to be ten in total with one standing out, namely the “Superfan” promotion. The campaign requires organisations entering the campaign to commit to a minimum of twenty fans to be sent to the EWC. This can be across multiple tournaments for the competitions the fans have a preference of seeing. The fans are all vetted and sourced independently by the organisations and the details of the fans are then sent to the Esports World Cup Foundation management team who arrange for the necessary paperwork, hotels and shuttles to and from the airport.

Esports organisations have been vocal about the Superfan “giveaway” on their social media accounts. Many of them are framing it as an “all expenses paid” promotion without mentioning that they themselves are being financially rewarded for the fans attendance. It is this publication’s understanding that all the expenses for fans travel are underwritten by the Esports World Cup Foundation and not the organisations.

The fans that sign up are supposed to be given special access wristbands for priority seating during the tournament, travel to and from the venue on each of the tournament days and travel to and from the airport on their arrival and departure. Ultimately though, the purpose of the campaign seems to be to try and shore up the crowd for the event that appeared to be underwhelming based on footage from the previous event.

An example of a superfan promotion. Photo from X.com

“There has been some anxiety about crowd size” one source “especially as the audience is very heavily from Saudi. They came up with a reward scheme for each of the orgs and marketed it as rewarding their “superfans.” Each org had to find and deliver at least twenty in order to qualify but the maximum number for each is sixty, with the reward increasing for each milestone.”

Another source added that the incentive was “absolutely about expanding and diversifying the crowd for optics” adding that “four hundred Saudi men in traditional dress doesn’t give the sense you’re watching a ‘World Cup.’” They also said they weren’t sure clear if having seen footage from the accompanying documentary series, which we have also covered, precipitated the desire for bigger crowds.

It seems strange that such anxieties would exist at all. Arab News reported the event was a “total sellout,” with a total of 289,000 visitors and 60,000 tickets sold for the esports events alone. Those numbers do not seem to have translated to video or photographic evidence though, with crowds appearing smaller than reported perhaps due to stage setups.

So far many organisations have promoted or referenced the campaign on social media, encouraging fans to post photographs and talk of their experience.

While there have been many fans expressing their satisfaction with the initiative on social media, not all organisations have handled the situation equally. One organisation that has had complaints made publicly from disappointed superfans has been Bilibili Gaming, which is more commonly referred to as BLG. The Chinese organisation, owned by the Bilibili company, joined the Esports World Cup Club Program when it was expanded to forty partners in May. According to fans who supposedly took part in their superfan experience there were a number of failures that have left fans complaining on Chinese social media Weibo.

This person had a seat in the second row, a great place to watch the game. But the staff asked him to leave. His friend in the same row had a yellow superfan wristband and he could stay. He was wondering if he's forced to leave because he didn't have the wristband. He also mentioned that fans of other clubs/teams got wristbands but BLG fans didn't get anything.

The first paragraph says:

“BLG, fuck off, you got us on a 10-hour flight to watch a shitty game, the club didn't organize any meeting activity with the players, instead they sent them back on a 3 a.m. flight. They did everything to prevent us from seeing the players. I would rather jump into the Yangzi river than spending any money on this club again.”

It then details the complaints which are threefold and summarised below:

1) The organiser (meaning BLG here) didn't provide any information on flight tickets/accommodation/transportation before the fans' departure.,

2) Sent the wrong information to the fans. Staff were unaware of the mistake until some fans checked the information with fans of other teams.

3) When the fans asked about the arrangement, the staff said the day-to-day plan was not their responsibility. While other clubs organised various interactions with the fans, BLG fans had nothing and even had to ask the staff how they could get back to the hotel.

While BLG seem to be the worst example of a botched superfan experience several sources at participating esports organisations have expressed that it has been a much more difficult process than they anticipated. The recurring complaint is that when they need to liaise with the EWC itself to resolve anything they find communication difficult and response untimely. Some have also expressed safety concerns if attending women are left unaccompanied and aren’t aware of the specific cultural expectations when visiting Saudi Arabia.

“The main problem is that the campaign is being run by one person” a source familiar with the promotion said under condition of anonymity. “You have dozens of orgs sending potentially sixty fans each to Riyadh and if the orgs don’t appoint one of their staff to take care of the fans when they get there, then they are being left on their own to figure out what to do.”

The person said to be in charge of the campaign is Aysel Ahmadova whose title is “Senior Hospitality Specialist” and is listed as being the “Super Fan Program Manager” on Linkedin. Her past experience includes having been the Head of Protocol, Guest Management, Corporate Events at the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) based in Egypt and a VIP Hospitality Manager at Jeddah based company Shine. Having only been at the company for three months it seems from other public posts she was brought in as the EWC broadened its hospitality team in order to earn a broader selection of praise from those in attendance. However, the knowledge that the event is essentially having to ship in fans from overseas to make the crowd seem more in line with the occasion is likely to be subject to ridicule from esports fans.

Any “Superfans” that wish to share their experiences can reach out via X.com, Signal or Discord.