Every team and organization has their start. Every team in the TOP10 has been started some day, and the best team have been rewarded with success and contributions from outside. But what are the step necessary to build up operation?
- Start with the basics
- Choose and focus on one game, to begin with
- Select your geographic area
- Establish your team branding
- Put your team together
- Find potential team members
- Select players for your team
- Set up your team infrastructure
- Make sure you have the appropriate hardware
- Rent a team game server
- Create your eSports website
- Select a team meeting location
- Compete at a higher level
- Promote the team
- Create a fan base
- Secure sponsorships
- Find an agent
- Consider other recruitment options
- Cost of starting a professional esports team or franchise may be quite high
To start an eSports team, you must first begin with the basics. You have to go through all these initial steps before even considering finding and recruiting players for your new eSports team. But remember, great things started from humble beginnings.
Focus on one game at start
When starting an eSports team, you don’t want to form several teams for multiple games initially. Having numerous teams means you’ll have less time to spend on managing and focusing on each one, which will lessen the quality of the team.
Why do we recommend starting small?
Because when you first start an eSports team, it’s much easier to coordinate live competitions with other teams in a local area versus traveling to national competitions. Going this route will ultimately help keep your costs down and optimize your time practicing with the team.
Establish your team branding
Your team brand establishes your identity, so take the time to consider the right logo.
Team branding is an essential part of creating an eSports team. Having a great name for your new team will definitely build awareness of your team and help attract more people.
Your name and logo will become the face of your team quickly and will help people recognize your team a lot easier.
Set up your eSports team
Once the basics are out of the way, you’ll want to assemble your team with enough players so you can compete in scrums and tournaments. There are lot of activies when setting up the team, members, computers, place….
Create a team schedule
It’s essential to create a team schedule to make sure the entire team is on the same page. This schedule should have all team-related activities documented, including:
- Practice
- Competitions
- Meetings
- Other gatherings
We suggest creating a team calendar on Google Calendar, a free online application that allows multiple people to view, add, and edit the same calendar.
This practice will help each team member know the dates, times, and locations of all team-related activities and ultimately ensure that everyone shows up where they are supposed to be on time.
Create a fan base
Fans come with success. Keep developing your team’s skills, and the fans will take notice over time. Don’t expect immediate results, as it’s a long-term relationship you’re building, and you will make small gains with every step forward.
Finding fans isn’t something that you can buy. Instead, it has to happen somewhat naturally. You can’t force people to like and respect your team. Your entire team must earn this respect.
As your eSports team starts to compete and play more and more, you’ll find that you’ll begin to gain fans, especially if your team is successful. We all know that the better your team is and the more they win, the more fans they will have.
The one thing you can control is getting the name of your team out there. And this is why the team’s branding that we spoke about earlier is so important.
The best place to promote your team is on the internet. Your website will be instrumental in doing so because it’s a central place where anyone looking for information on your team can come to learn more. We recommend going big with social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr.
Secure sponsorships for your eSports team
Once your team starts to compete at a relatively high level and begins to build up a decent-sized fanbase, sponsorships can be a helpful way to increase revenue and exposure for your team. These sponsorships may be as small as an advertisement on the team’s website or sponsored product placements, clothing, and gear in your streams, social media, or other locations.
Even if you can find local companies or businesses to sponsor your team, it’s worth it! Every bit helps and aids the team in gaining recognition. Learning how to sell your company at local venues, like LAN centers or gaming-centric stores makes for great practice when the opportunity arises to work with an industry-specific sponsor. It’s important to know that it’s a two-way street. Get to understand the business side of sponsorships and make sure your team understands the concepts well.