Gaming
esports
ELEAGUE Brings Rocket League Esports to the Masses
After a thrilling live tournament, the weekly TV series has found an audience with a different format.
The fourth-season World Championship of the Rocket League Championship Series went down in early November, and with no fifth-season timeline announced just yet, the world's top car-soccer pros might have expected a sizable offseason until 2018 rolled around. Not so fast, however. Instead, the Top 8 teams from the RLCS finals were all invited to Atlanta for Turner Sports's The ELEAGUE Cup, one of the game's most visible competitive tournaments to date.
Not only did it provide an opportunity for RLCS rematches and put up a strong $150,000 prize pool, but the streamed weekend tournament earlier this month has also since followed by a weekly TV mini-series that makes pro Rocket League even more palatable for mainstream viewers. With speedy recaps, team interviews, and in-depth game explanations, it's the perfect way to jump into the burgeoning competitive scene without a big investment of time.
That approach has paid off big time for TBS, too: last week's episode is now the #1 highest-rated esports TV program of 2017, according to Nielsen, reaching far more viewers the last televised Rocket League tournament. With The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League's final episode airing tonight on TBS (early Saturday morning) at midnight ET/PT, here's a look at how ELEAGUE took on one of today's fastest-growing esports.
(Note: If you're following the TBS series and did not watch the live tournament or see the results, do not read this article before watching the final TV episode!)
Setting the tone
Turner's first shot at bringing Rocket League to its established ELEAGUE TV format — which has played host to games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Street Fighter V — was clearly built on the back of the RLCS. The ELEAGUE Cup invited the top eight teams from November's World Championship, shot video footage and interviews during the RLCS event, and mostly utilized casters and analysts from the RLCS and Rival Series.
Even so, and even with the incredibly close proximity to the RLCS finals, The ELEAGUE Cup managed to carve out its own style and approach to presenting Rocket League. Most visibly, The ELEAGUE Cup feels like an even bigger deal due to its lavish studio and glossy presentation, making the most of its TV-sized budget and established format. While sponsor tie-ins like the "Cheez-It Grooves Lounge" might seem silly, they also go a long way toward selling ELEAGUE as the equivalent of traditional sports coverage on TV. And dropping in large digital cars and balls onto the set was a cool touch, as well.
ELEAGUE also knows its audience well, and knows that viewers may not all be Rocket League die-hards or entrenched esports fans. That's why approachable dives into game mechanics were such a smart addition, plus ELEAGUE took the time to make its players seem human. A profile piece on G2 Esports captain Cameron "Kronovi" Bills (above), shot in his home and surrounding areas, really impressed, while filmed team interviews likewise produced a lot of great material.
Moreover, ELEAGUE set a different kind of tone than the RLCS, and was mostly better for it. Ditching the usual stone-faced, arms-crossed player portraits allowed teams to show a bit more personality and have a bit of fun in the process. On the other hand, ELEAGUE's Twitter memes were very much hit-or-miss and sometimes felt like they were trying too hard — but even when they were bad (see below), it was hard not to smirk at their over-the-top lameness. Besides, you could tell that they were tuned into the social media pulse surrounding the tournament. When people griped about the Cup's repetitive theme song, ELEAGUE responded by trolling them with a 10-hour loop of it on YouTube.
More practically, The ELEAGUE Cup broke from the RLCS approach with a group-based format, allowing each team to battle against three others before the single-elimination semi-finals. ELEAGUE champion Jacob "JKnaps" Knapman of G2 saw that as a positive, as it allowed for teams to face off against more competition early on.
"I really liked how ELEAGUE's group stage format compared to RLCS World Championship's double-elimination bracket," he said. "I think that if enough teams/players prefer the group stage format, we could see it at future RLCS World Championships. I think it would definitely allow for more teams to compete against each other instead of just playing your opposite seed."
G2's big win
What also helped The ELEAGUE Cup was a spectacular grand finals series, courtesy of JKnaps's G2 and the reigning RLCS champions, Gale Force Esports. Gale Force had already beaten G2 during the group stage, and seemed poised to take the ELEAGUE Cup just weeks after winning their first RLCS. It would have established Gale Force as a Rocket League dynasty in the making.
But G2 had other ideas. The North American team's first opponent on Championship Sunday would be the surging Mock-It Esports, who had notched a pair of stunning come-from-behind, reverse-sweep wins earlier in the weekend — but G2 didn't scrim against them. "The only team we scrimmed that Sunday morning was Gale Force," JKnaps said. "The games were 50/50, and we adapted to playing their quick and accurate playstyle."
Gale Force took down Cloud9 in five games and G2 did the very same against Mock-It, setting up the epic grand finals battle. G2 finished fourth at the RLCS World Championship and showcased a new level of consistency, but ELEAGUE would provide a fresh test for the team. "The grand finals series against Gale Force was our first-ever grand finals at a LAN as a team, and it was against the RLCS world champions," JKnaps recalled. "We knew we could make it that far, but we had a very worthy opponent in the finals and we had to play our best game if we wanted any chance of winning."
And that's exactly what happened. Gale Force and G2 swapped games early on, but the RLCS champs had the 3-2 edge after five games. Game six then provided the biggest stunner of the series (above): an overtime win by G2 from an own goal by Gale Force's Alexandre "Kaydop" Courant, after the ball bounced between the bars for a couple of heart-stopping seconds before sinking in. G2 put up an early lead in game seven, and while Gale Force kept it close, the NA fan-favorites ultimately prevailed.
Rizzo, Kronovi and JKnaps (from left) hoisting the ELEAGUE trophy
© Turner Sports
It was a huge moment for the team. G2 had shown flashes of brilliance early in the year, but would lose sight of their team game and go on a skid. But we've seen a more disciplined G2 of late: one that is defaulting to passing plays and creating scoring opportunities even against stalwart defenses. And Kronovi and Dillon "Rizzo" Rizzo are letting JKnaps shine as the offensive star and mechanical monster he truly is.
"To finally win a championship after all of our ups and downs as a team made the win feel even more meaningful," JKnaps asserted. "Our career as a team has been to try and prove to everyone that we are a top team, maybe even the best — and now we finally have a trophy to show for it."
It was a spectacular grand finals match, not only for the outcome but also the precise, high-level play that led to the ultimate result. In fact, it was a much more rousing finale than we saw at the RLCS World Championship, where the dominant Gale Force steamrolled over an exhausted Method in a clean four-game sweep. That's another feather in ELEAGUE's cap.
Rebuilt for TV
However, people following the TBS series haven't seen The ELEAGUE Cup's grand finals yet, nor do they know what happened — at least, not from watching the TV series.
Turner streamed the live tournament on Twitch during the first weekend of December, but rather than show anything live on television, TBS instead opted to put together super-streamlined, hour-long episodes. The first of those, which aired during the tournament weekend, showcased footage from the RLCS and set the stage for The ELEAGUE Cup. Meanwhile, the three episodes that followed are trimmed-down recaps.
While the TBS episodes are largely comprised of footage that aired during the live tournament, they strike a much different tone. People who enjoy esports for the thrill of the game and the communal sensation of watching live competition probably tuned into the Twitch stream, but that's not ELEAGUE's main television audience. Those viewers are less likely to know Rocket League's top teams and players, or the storylines that led up to ELEAGUE. As a result, the TBS series tries to offer a cohesive, contextualized experience for the first-time viewer without boring the entrenched, experienced fans in the process.
"Our goal has been to capture and tell the most compelling stories surrounding the teams and players as they go through a high-stakes event like The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League," said Christina Alejandre, general manager of ELEAGUE and vice president of esports at Turner Sports. "We've found that providing that type of perspective and access appeals to both the more hardcore gaming community and those viewers that may be watching an esports event for the first time."
She added that Turner takes a "platform-agnostic approach" to esports coverage, in that they don't lock in to one kind of format above all. As seen with The ELEAGUE Cup, they were able to produce a compelling viewing experience for two very different platforms with potentially very different core audiences.
"While esports is native to digital and most fans gravitate to that platform for live game coverage, we've received a lot of positive feedback and higher viewership when we present more narrative-driven content on TBS," she said. "And it's seen in the numbers, with several of these packaged shows delivering some of our most-watched coverage of the year."
Rocket League is already a very accessible esport, as it's easy to follow the action without knowing or ever having played the game. However, The ELEAGUE Cup's TV component trims the fat even further, with the rapid-fire game recaps showing mostly the goals with occasional near-misses and key saves. It's an easier entry point for prospective new fans: While they don't see all of the compelling back-and-forth and team tactics that eventually lead to goals, they get most of the excitement in a quick flurry. And if they enjoy that, then maybe they'll be open to following the stream and watching full matches in the future. It makes a lot of sense as a starting point.
People are watching
It's paying off for TBS, too. As Alejandre suggested, their non-live "packaged" esports shows have done well, and according to Nielsen ratings figures collected by esports blog The Next Level, last week's The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League episode (which aired on Dec. 15) notched the highest viewership tally of any esports television programming in 2017 in the United States.
The figures show an estimated 406,000 total viewers for the episode, which is just a hair above the 405,000 that tuned in for The CW's Chasing the Cup: Injustice 2 in October. However, The ELEAGUE Cup's share of viewers in the 18-49 demographic is much higher (48 percent to 29 percent), and TBS must be encouraged to see that every new episode of the series has added thousands more viewers than the previous one. In fact, the TBS series was originally announced as a three-episode endeavor, but a fourth episode was quietly added following the live tournament.
Rocket League's previous TV opportunity came from NBC's Universal Open 2v2 over the summer, in which NBC Sports aired a late chunk of live regional qualifier matches on its local Comcast SportsNet channels before showing part of the finals on NBCSN. But according to the Nielsen figures tracked by The Next Level, the Universal Open finals only had 34,000 viewers during its late-night live showing, and 64,000 during the repeat airing.
When it comes to streaming numbers, The ELEAGUE Cup's high of approximately 69,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch during the final day doesn't come close to the last RLCS World Championship, which hit a peak of 189,400 streaming viewers a month prior. However, that TV audience is not only sizable, but also significant for the future of Rocket League esports. Many of those viewers may not know or play Rocket League, but they could be the next fans — and Rocket League has a potential level of mainstream appeal that a lot of other games can't touch.
Top Rocket League teams surely hope for another ELEAGUE opportunity
© Turner Sports
Alejandre said that engagement has been high and that the digital and televised numbers have both impressed them. While no further Rocket League events have been confirmed under the ELEAGUE banner, TBS has come away very pleased from this initial attempt. "There's nothing to announce at this time, but we're constantly seeking opportunities to further expand our portfolio and esports offerings," she added. "We've had a great experience working with Psyonix, and could not be more pleased with our first-ever Rocket League event."
The competitive community seemed equally thrilled with the results and the opportunity for high-profile TV time, and in the case of JKnaps, he'd love to see ELEAGUE stick around the Rocket League scene. "ELEAGUE ran one of the best Rocket League events to date. The quality of the studio, player areas, stream, and talent were all very professional," he said. "ELEAGUE welcomed Rocket League as an esport with open arms, and I hope they pursue more events in the future."
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