Should esports host more home live events?

Home live events are one of the latest trends in competitive esports. Unlike traditional LAN finals or international tournaments, these events will usually take place in the hosting team’s home cities or region, giving fans a more personalised setting that feels uniquely theirs.

With esports increasingly becoming more structured in recent years — with more regional competitions, international tournaments expanding, and fanbases solidifying — the role of home live events has resurfaced as a great new opportunity for organisations to capitalise on the growth in the years to come. Are they part of the future of esports, or are the recent successes just standalone outliers?

This article explores what home live events are, why more teams are pushing for them, the barriers preventing their growth, and whether they represent a sustainable path forward for esports.

Home live events in esports are matches or series hosted by a team in their own city or dedicated venues. Instead of hosting all official matches in a centralised studio or arena, usually owned by the game publisher, teams play in front of their local fans — similar to games in traditional sports.

The key distinction is that home events are not global events like Worlds or MSI, but league matches anchored in a team’s specific community.

In League of Legends, China’s LPL was the first region to adopt a home venue model, with team-owned arenas across multiple cities, including Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xi’an. While not all teams had their own arena, teams could use the arena to explore more commercial opportunities while building stronger communities by having fans attend matches live. 

The biggest success when it comes to home live events, however, comes from South Korea and the most dominant organisation in the scene, T1. 

The T1 Home Ground was first introduced in June 2024 and brought back this year. The events saw T1 host and manage all aspects of official LCK matches featuring their team. Despite being a new format, it came with immediate success: over 6,200 attendees in 2024 and 15,000 this year. T1 Home Ground has now become one of the biggest esports events not hosted directly by Riot Games. 

Europe has been catching up through the LEC Roadtrips, where Karmine Corp and Movistar KOI filled their arenas in Paris and Madrid, respectively. Currently, the only regions with no home live events in LoL are the LTA (Legends of the Americas) and LCP (League Championship Pacific).

Other esports have also tried this model, with mixed success. The Overwatch League launched in 2018 with a home-and-away system, and while it initially worked, it was soon halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Call of Duty League adopted a similar franchise setup and was also affected similarly.

There are several reasons why esports should embrace the opportunities of hosting live home events. Aside from the economic benefits that can drive up revenues through ticket sales, merchandise, and sponsorships, the hosting team can solidify fan engagement while strengthening rivalries through on-site interactions. This also makes it easier to drive new storylines, bringing more people closer to esports, and becoming a reinforcing cycle to increase the overall fanbase. 

From an organisation’s perspective, having control over broadcast, activations, and events outside of the esports matches can be greatly beneficial for brands looking to get a stronger affiliation with the communities. 

According to Joe Marsh, CEO of T1 Entertainment and Sports, the 2024 edition saw the team generate over $1m through tickets, food and beverage sales, and merchandising sales, just from the event alone. With this year’s edition taking place across three days and attendees nearly tripling, the revenue numbers are certainly going to be higher.

While home live events can be great successes, they are not guaranteed to work. In the modern era, where esports’ schedules are packed and not every region has the same fan density, hosting live events can become a major financial burden for esports teams, who are already navigating through a tough macroeconomic landscape.

Renting or maintaining arenas is expensive, and often the risk outweighs the potential upside. If we add up logistical challenges and the potential broadcast inconsistency, which can greatly harm the viewing experience, the model becomes risky to scale beyond a few flagship organisations. Past examples like the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League show how quickly costs can spiral if the attendance rate and revenues generated are not high enough, forcing leagues to retreat to centralised play despite initial enthusiasm.

Home live events represent one of the most exciting yet risky opportunities in modern esports. Great events can lead to exponential revenue and community growth, getting much closer to traditional sports culture. Yet they also bring logistical headaches, uneven accessibility, and steep financial risks.

Looking ahead, the most likely scenario is a hybrid approach: flagship home events, if proven successful, will continue to exist for the most powerful teams, while centralised studio play remains the backbone of competition. Unless the size of the esports fanbase grows hand in hand with these ambitions, home live events risk becoming costly showcases rather than sustainable pillars of league ecosystems. Ultimately, it becomes a balancing act between passion and sustainability.