A dedicated home venue for e-sports: Borussia Dortmund wants to support its entry into FIFA’s successor EA Sports FC. In its first season of the Virtual Bundesliga Club Championship, BVB opened its own area, the “Signal Iduna Gaming Park” in the Basestack gaming bar in the middle of Dortmund.
If you turn right in the entrance area, you will enter the E-Sport Arena, where the first EA-FC derby against FC Schalke 04 took place on December 5th. There are two-story wooden benches next to the doors, opposite them is the black and yellow stage with consoles, gaming PCs, screens and a commentator’s position. Those responsible say that up to 150 spectators can sit here.
EA Sports FC team plays in new gaming bar
“We were proactively approached by Basestack,” says Alexander Mühl, director of marketing and digitalization at BVB, in an interview with the German Press Agency. “It’s just a perfect fit here. You have walk-in customers, you’re right in the heart of the city. That was really a stroke of luck.”
Some fans come and go spontaneously during the games, entry is free. Anyone who doesn’t yet know exactly what BVB is doing here should be attracted by a screen facing outwards. Almost 25 people are watching the derby live in the arena.
BVB is targeting a young target group
On the first matchday in Dortmund there were up to 70, says Jannis Jersch, team lead for digital products and innovation at BVB. “When they scored the decisive winning goal in the 93rd minute, it showed the emotions that are then possible,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency. “It’s a different way to watch football than in the stadium, but it’s possible to ignite a young target group with this topic.”
As in the stadium, the fan anthems “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Heja BVB” are played here before the game, but there is no continuous singing. Even during the duels it remains rather quiet, which is also due to the result. Borussia are behind early on against their arch-rivals.
Walking customers and amateur athletes in the audience
The young age of many of the guests is noticeable in the small stands. Dennis Kazakis traveled from nearby Herne with a group of three people aged 12 to 14 as an adult accompanying person.
“It’s a kind of excursion or team-building measure where we took the time outside of everyday training to cheer on the BVB boys,” says the coach of the EA-FC youth team from DSC Wanne-Eickel. “We know that cheering can have a psychological effect and perhaps activate one or two reserve batteries.”
Players hope for home advantage
With Alihan Kösecik, the current Dortmund city champion is also new to BVB. The 20-year-old is still waiting for his VBL debut.
“The atmosphere is awesome. I don’t know of any club that organizes it like that,” he said in an interview with dpa. “Of course it’s difficult as a player to play with an audience. But if we invite a club, it’s a home advantage for us.”
BVB wants to go away in VBL
Despite the venue, there are no real home and away games because the VBL CC is played online. In the medium term, Jersch hopes that the opponents will invite each other and make the rivalries more tangible.
In the end, the aim is to advance the VBL. “Even if there were only a few people from Bochum or Cologne here. That’s at least more than there is otherwise,” says Jersch. “We’re also willing to go away to away games and play somewhere else because it’s great to bring communities together and make events out of it.”