On Wednesday, July 10, ESA hosted an esports event on Capitol Hill in conjunction with Future Forum—a caucus of nearly 50 of the youngest members of the House of Representatives focusing on issues and opportunities important to younger Americans.
Hosted by Katie Bedford (Esports Host for Major League Gaming’s Call of Duty: World League and Editor-in-Chief and Founder of The Daily Walkthrough) and Andy “Panda” Nekrich (noted esports commentator), the Congressional esports event featured food, drinks, interviews, commentary, and—of course!—video games aplenty.
The game of choice? Rocket League: a “vehicular soccer” classic that lets players go head-to-head in 2v2 matches.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), chair of the Future Forum, was among the first to arrive. Also in attendance were staffers, industry, and other members of Congress including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA), Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), and Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA).
All who joined had the opportunity to compete while learning more about esports directly from industry experts.
Esports are one of the newest and fastest-growing sectors of the video game industry today. Serious players can earn scholarships, play full-time, and compete in tournaments with prizes worth millions. By some estimates, in 2019 the total audience of esports will grow to 454 million viewers and revenues will increase to over $1 billion USD.
In traditional esports fashion, all of the evening’s matches were live streamed on the ESA Twitch stream.
Missed the live stream? Check out the coverage in Roll Call and watch the full recording below:
