Coming Soon: Manitoba's First Esports Expo

The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba is excited to announce its support of the University of Manitoba Esports Club. In a joint effort, we’re hosting Manitoba’s first Esports Expo on May 24 and 25. The Expo will feature the local talent of all levels competing in tournaments for prizes. Overwatch, League of Legends, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros Ultimate are some of the featured game titles.

Online competition is already underway with six teams facing each off in Overwatch and 13 teams battling in League of Legends. The top two teams will play in front of an audience on campus on high quality equipment fromPVP Cyberlounge at the University of Manitoba’s Multipurpose Room in University Centre with live casters and analysis commentating the matches.

While anticipating for these exciting matches guests can participate in day-of competitions for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. They can also check out local vendors and win prizes through a series of mini-games and activities. 

The goal of this event is to give the Winnipeggers a glimpse of the budding esports community in the city and the opportunity to experience esports live. Playing in front of an audience gives players the chance to experience playing on a big stage. It is an experience like no other in esports for Manitoba.

“We’ve watched with great interest the rise of esports over the last few years to an enormously exciting industry whose inclusion in the Olympic Games is under consideration. To see what might be possible from Manitoba’s gaming community is exciting for us from a performance perspective and CSCM’s partnership with the University of Manitoba Esports Club has proven to be an excellent introduction to how CSCM might support performance in this community.” - Jeff Powell, General Manager, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba

“Gaming and esports have been a significant part of our lives. Most gaming platforms connect us with players all over the world and it’s easy to forget what we have in our own backyard. Since we started our journey in esports we’ve had the pleasure of being involved with a vibrant and diverse community. We’ve watched players grow and compete at high levels. They made names for themselves in the global esports community. They created opportunities for themselves to pursue education and careers. We have great talent in Manitoba in all areas of gaming - whether they’re a creator or a player. We just wanted to give them a space to showcase it.” - Melanie Penner, President and Lorhiz Aquino, Vice President, University of Manitoba Esports Club.

Esports Expo is for anyone interested in cosplay, gaming, tabletop games and competition. Students at middle school and high school level are also invited to participate. 

Place 
Multipurpose Rooms (MPR), 2nd Floor 
University Centre, University of Manitoba Campus
66 Chancellors Circle, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2

Dates & Times
Friday, May 24th 4 PM - 10 PM
Saturday, May 25th 12 PM - 10 PM

Admission
Friday: $15
Saturday: $20    
Weekend Pass: $25    
Premium: $40

*Eventbrite tickets are for admission to the Expo ONLY.

Proudly sponsored by AYBOnline, UConnect Esports, PVP Cyberlounge, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, Gaming Association for Manitoba Educators, and The Portal Winnipeg.

Sponsorship and tradeshow opportunities are available.

About CSCM
The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba (CSCM) was created as one of the many legacies of the 1999 Pan American Games held in Winnipeg. Today, CSCM is the hub for high-performance sport in Manitoba. A proud member of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, CSCM works to provide a world-class, multi-sport daily training environment for athletes and coaches through integrated services and programs in the fields of physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology and support services.

About Esports
Electronic sports, known as esports, is the application of turning gaming into a spectator sport. It mimics the experience of watching a professional sporting event, except instead of watching a physical event, spectators watch esports athletes compete against each other.

The competitive landscape of each game employs similar characteristics and are starting to mirror the traditional sport models. Teams from esports organizations compete within leagues, following the standard format of seasons and playoffs. The leagues are usually limited to a region or continent in the regular season but have the opportunity to face international teams in a world championship.

The major competitive esports companies have established various tiers for their leagues, where esports talent is given the opportunity to be showcased in amatuer to semi-professional leagues, increasing their opportunity to be drafted to a professional team. Players have the opportunity to generate income from sponsorships, live streams, their organization, tournament winnings, and in some cases, a salary from the league that they compete in.

Some esports organizations have garnered major investment from parent sponsors such as NBA & MLB teams/owners, large corporations like Disney, celebrities and entrepreneurs who have stakes in the organizations.

Esports has grown due to the increasing accessibility to technology and is steadily becoming more mainstream. 

For more information, please contact Jeff Powell, General Manager, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, Direct Line: 204.474.7148, Emai:jeff@cscm.ca or Melanie Penner, President, University of Manitoba Esports Club, Phone: 204-391-5409, Email: connect@uofmbesports.com