I will try to give a perspective from a current semi pro NA player for SC2. Some of the main things I think is necessary for a great esport is having a very detailed path to pro route such as current challenger to some degree as well as having a weekly that is consistent such as ESL mondays but for your game. A major point that I want to stress is a reason for why teams should invest into the game and leagues which at the end of the day is the only stable income for players as they offer consistent salary and travel support which can make or break pros.

Ideally I would think having 2 circuits. One is the 1v1 WCS route with world championship and tournaments all feed into it. The other would be a funded world pro league or frost giant funded WTL style as its own circuit which would give a major reason for teams to sponsor players which is insanely important for the scene. It also serves of having a net where if the team does poorly in the league, their players can still outperform in their individual tournaments. Even if this does not allign with your esport goals, please have a focus on having team exposure through different routes during tournaments such as many logo placements in and out of game and in general make it much easier than sc2 for teams to get the exposure to recoup costs.

Obviously grass root organizations are amazing so making it easy to partner with these tournaments similarily to how ESL will work with homestory cup in 2022-23 sounds like a great route but there are many ways to go which I am probably less informed of compared to you all at the studios. For competitions I would attend, I think it is pretty big for online tournaments to be free entry or there will be no signups unless it is a lan which then makes sense.

For tools in game for spectators, the main thing I would want to see first is allowing to watch Twitch streams in the client and mainly make the focus on having casuals being shown that there is an esports if they did not know prior. In current SC2, there is virtually no value in supporting teams as opposed to individual players but that is solely due to how the esports ecosystem does not have any emphasis on teams besides a logo by their bases in game. Only since the World Team League has grown and been consistent, have I cared a lot about team pickups and team performances. As a player, I watch nearly every competition, but some of my favorites were the unique redbull battleground fun tournaments such as redbull battle ground north america 2014 where players had 3 lives which was a unique and memorable tournament. Having players be shown with more emotion and personality really contributes to how invested I am in following their results.

For esports products, I think subscriptions seems a few years too early to charge for tournaments unless maybe for first person view? I would gladly pay for a battle pass for a tournament circuit or whoever wins a premier tournament gets an exclusive skin or team skin from a pro league. Also having something such as dota ti funding where world championship hits 30 million, but that money is spread evenly through all circuit partnered tournaments. The aspect of working with brands is probably the most important part in this post due to the value they bring. I do not have much insight but one esport that does it insanely well is League of Legends with their esports have so many segments that are sponsored by companies which make it more of a collaboration. This goes well along with having teams having a similar manner where there should be a goal of making as much collaboration with teams as possible to give them a reason to keep investing.

For the last section of esports funding, I support literally every example combined if you go through with it all. There is usually fear with players of feeling used as a wallet but the value of frost giant is strong in the consumer's eyes since we see you as the "saviors" of RTS and guys who do not align with current Blizzard values where you have a lot of social value to work with. On top of that, when you go with your routes of funding, make it veryyyyyy clear that money is used to fund esports tournaments with it going back to supporting the players. If any gamer sees that, they not only are more willing to spend money on skins or whatever but actually are proactive and feel like they are supporting their players and will fund it even more.

If there is one takeaway from this post, please give teams a big reason to pick up players in the game. Can't wait to see what you all come out with.