The Downtown Grand in Las Vegas has created an eSports viewing room where guests can watch a professional team from Australia prepare for upcoming competitions now and in the future.
LA Renegades is an Australian eSports team that competes in a popular first-person shooter video game, “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.” The Downtown Grand is sponsoring the team of five players, who in November began a two-month residency at the downtown casino.
While they are there, LA Renegades players will practice in a special gaming are, where casino visitors can stop and watch them practice for their next big competition, and casino officials said they will return to the Downtown Grand to prepare for future competitions.
“It’s a very serious sport, and the players train for eight hours a day to hone in on their skills,” Downtown Grand Chairman Seth Schorr told the Las Vegas Business Press. “We wanted to create a professional training facility that they can use as a home base as they travel throughout the world to play in eSports tournaments.”
Sponsoring the team helps the Downtown Grand to remain at the forefront of innovative new forms of entertainment, while helping to attract a new generation of casino visitors, Shorr said.
Created in Asia, eSports is a professional gaming-based competition in which competitors vie against one another in a variety of video games, ranging from complex strategy games to first-person shooter scenarios.
More than 47 million people in Asia, North American, Europe and Australia compete in the growing sport.
