Esports Stadium Arlington (ESA) is a North American

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

facility located in Arlington,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The 100,000 sqft venue is the largest dedicated esports facility in North America and holds 2,500 spectators.

Description

Esports Stadium Arlington measures of total space and has the capacity to hold 2,500 seated spectators.

History

In March 2018, the city of Arlington announced plans to develop the largest esports stadium in the United States that was scheduled to open later that year. The project was collaboration between the city, Esports Venues LLC, which is owned by Texas Rangers co-owner Neil Leibman, Populous, who designed the stadium, and NGAGE Esports. The venue officially opened on November 26, 2018. In December 2020, all but two of Esports Stadium Arlington employees were

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

. President Jonathon Oudthone left the company for undisclosed reasons, with Luke Bauer, chairman of the Texas Rangers ownership committee, becoming the new president of the venue. In January 2022, esports and gaming company

Envy Gaming Envy Gaming, Inc was a collective esports and gaming company. It was originally founded in 2007 by Tosh "Stainville" Mcgruder and Skyler "Foreplayy" Johnson as a ''Call of Duty'' esports team known as Team EnVyUs. Envy Gaming, LLC was formed in ...

acquired the operating contract for Esports Stadium Arlington from Esports Venues LLC.

Events

The venue's first hosted event was

FACEIT FACEIT is an esports platform founded in London in 2012. The company has administered leagues for games such as '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''League of Legends'', ''Rocket League'', Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, ''Dota 2'' and ''Tea ...

Esports Championship Series FACEIT is an esports platform founded in London in 2012. The company has administered leagues for games such as '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''League of Legends'', ''Rocket League'', Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, ''Dota 2'' and ''Tea ...

Season Six Finals, a global competition for '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in November 2018.'' After shutting down operations due in February 2020 to due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, ESA hosted its first live event since the pandemic began — a match between the

Dallas Fuel Dallas Fuel is an American professional ''Overwatch'' team based in Dallas, Texas. The Fuel compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, Dallas Fuel is one of the league's twelve founding team ...

and

Houston Outlaws The Houston Outlaws are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Houston, Texas. The Outlaws compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, Houston Outlaws is one of the leag ...

of the

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting lea ...

in July 2021.

References

External links

* {{Dallas Fuel 2018 establishments in Texas Sports venues in Arlington, Texas Dallas Fuel Esports venues in Texas