Agganis set to host ELEAGUE Boston Major

Professional gaming fans will convene at Agganis Arena for the ELEAGUE Major: Boston this weekend, an international esports tournament for the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Esports tournament and content brand ELEAGUE confirmed that they expect thousands to attend the Major, for which tickets are being sold throughout the week.

Christina Alejandre, general manager of ELEAGUE and vice president of esports at Turner Sports, said the ELEAGUE Major: Boston is the culmination of a worldwide tournament.

“There are tournaments all year round in tennis, but there are the U.S. Open and the French Open and Wimbledon,” Alejandre said. “The Major is the equivalent of the Wimbledon of tennis for CS:GO.”

The eight teams advancing to the major this weekend represent the United States, Brazil and countries across Europe. CS:GO Majors are held twice yearly, this marking the second that ELEAGUE league has hosted in two years.

Jack Tung, a sophomore in the Questrom School of Business, said he’s excited to attend the ELEAGUE Major to see his favorite professional teams.

“One of the biggest reasons why I want to go there [is] to physically see the players that I like and support them,” Tung said.

Alejandre said ELEAGUE chose Agganis as its venue because it wanted to grow the presence esports in the Northeast.

“We did a pretty extensive search on the East Coast for one that made sense,” Alejandre said, “and we thought that Agganis Arena would be a perfect venue because of its close proximity to a bunch of college-age students.”

Robin Kaul, a 2017 graduate of the College of Engineering, said he has always wanted to attend a major professional gaming championship, but has never had the opportunity to do so before now.

“Since I’m an international student, it was always difficult for me to attend one,” Kaul said. “Since I’m in the U.S. now, and it’s in Boston, and at our university, it’s pretty much a dream come true.”

BU spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email that Agganis Arena is especially well suited to host the ELEAGUE Major: Boston.

“Agganis Arena is a fantastic venue with great flexibility to host different kinds of events,” Riley wrote. “It can be configured to fit the needs of filming and televising the event for both live and remote audiences. This event will be broadcast to a huge international audience.”

Riley wrote that while Boston University has never hosted a professional gaming competition before, the university would like to host more of them after the ELEAGUE Major.

“This is Agganis’s first esports event,” Riley wrote, “but we’re hopeful to have other opportunities in the future, given the immense growth as it relates to the live entertainment industry.”

Riley wrote that hosting the event would benefit the university both by offering the BU community the opportunity to attend the tournament and by “gaining name recognition for hosting such a highly viewed event.”

Ryan Chen, president of the BU PC Gaming Club and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he was excited that BU is hosting an event so significant to the professional gaming community.

“I think it’s cool that BU has recognized the popularity and the opportunity available in esports,” Chen said. “The fact that they’re facilitating such a large event is really cool.”

Alejandre said that while professional gaming only hit its stride within the last few years, it has existed for much longer.

“I would argue that esports has been around even since arcade games, when people were competing in arcades, playing video games against each other,” Alejandre said. “It fully involves and it becomes a fully-fledged spectator sport.”

CAS junior Tom Kang said he thinks esports is just as exciting as physical sports, while being more accessible to a broader range of people.

“It’s almost identical to actual sports, but you get more opportunity compared to actual sports because you can just sit at your computer and play,” Kang said, “whereas if you’re doing an actual sport, you need to get people, you need to go outside, you need to start to get the equipment.”

Alejandre said that as esports has become more popular, big names like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the Philadelphia 76ers have bought professional gaming teams, bringing esports further into the public eye.

“I think it’s still kind of on the fringes of mainstream culture, but it’s started to permeate into mainstream culture,” Alejandre said. “With that shift into mainstream culture, you’re seeing more people take notice.”

Alejandre added that esports can be engaging and exciting to watch, even to those who know nothing about video games.

“I think you can’t fully appreciate esports unless you see it in person and actually feel the excitement and watch the players playing,” Alejandre said, “and then you’ll become hooked.”