Destination Selma: The Small Town of Esports
As Esports continues to build interest in the United States and around the globe, Alabama is one market where the interest to get involved in gaming is overwhelming. In Selma, Alabama specifically is a great place for Esports to grow within the state. Selma is a small town in Alabama that holds about 20,000 people. As Alabama is a part of the SEC in traditional sports, it's well known for how serious their passionate fan base is about sports. To add another sport to a well-known sports culture would help the already booming Esports industry explode into collegiate gaming. Like with any sport, however, video games need to build awareness, and for Selma, the town is still doesn't know how huge the Esports industry is.
Even though Alabama could eventually add Esports to its powerful SEC sports program, Selma is a great place to be a pioneer for Esports. While Selma might be a small town, the community is full of creative, diverse, students ready to express themselves and go beyond the traditional avenues that most think of taking after they graduate school. While at a young age, however, a child's first opportunity to explore what they're good at or interested in is school. Today, if schools do not have any resources for esports then a huge percentage of kids who have grown up gaming will not be aware of where they can take their passion for gaming, so they will continue to think that it's only a hobby which is looked down upon by the masses. Resources need to be invested in the school system of Selma so more awareness can be built about Esports. When schools invest their resources, the opportunities will follow. As an example, schools would be able to compete against each other as Esports grows.
A reason the lack of resources may not be flowing into the school system is teachers and decision-makers do not know how big Esports is. Most gamers can see how Esports is growing through watching streams on Twitch. However, access to the internet needs to improve in order for all of Selma to watch the sport grow. This is important not just for gamers but as mentioned earlier, this is the first step in educating the school system so they can divert resources towards what will eventually be a part of the most successful school's sports program.
The small-town community that Selma holds is a great opportunity for Esports to draw the attention of the entire town. When the awareness moves from inside schools into the town itself everyone will come to watch. The advantage that Selma has over larger communities is its small community itself. The likelihood is much higher for a small town like Selma to get excited about Esports. In addition to a small community being able to magnify the excitement of Esports, Selma is a tourist destination bringing in hundreds of tourists to their town per year. This small town of Selma has the potential to be a destination for Esports given how small the town is. If Esports can be adopted by this small community more tourists will come to their town which means more resources can be invested back into Esports and the town itself.
Madd Esports Arena looks to take on this challenge of growing Esports in Selma. It may look like a lot of challenges to build up the audience in such a small town, but for this company, they are all opportunities. Building an Arena in Selma would bring the community together and create opportunities for the people of Selma within their own town. The Arena would turn Selma into a destination for Esports and solidify the town as the pioneer of this huge industry in Alabama.
Don't underestimate the small town of Selma, Alabama. Accessibility may need improvement, but once the town has proper access to Esports it will only be a matter of time before the town turns into a must-see destination spot for Esport fans.