Esports League to Host First Hybrid LAN-and-Streaming Championship Series

LOS ANGELES – November 22, 2025 Super League Gaming, Inc. will open ticket sales Monday for the inaugural Champions Arena Series—esports’ first deliberately hybrid tournament that awards ranking points inside a packed LAN venue while distributing 4K, low-latency feeds to Twitch, YouTube, TikTok Live and 25 international broadcast partners. The month-long competition begins December 14 at the Pasadena Convention Center and culminates January 5, 2026, with simultaneous main-stage finals and a global streaming simulcast.

The format answers a post-pandemic demand for communal esports experiences without sacrificing the reach that made 2024 a record year for gaming livestreams. According to Mordor Intelligence, worldwide esports audience hours climbed 14.7 % year-over-year to 33.6 billion in 2024, while in-person event revenue is forecast to grow 19 % annually through 2029 as promoters layer “digital extensions” onto arena shows.

“Fans want choice—couch convenience or crowd roar—and our infrastructure finally supports both at once,” said Matt Edelman, Chief Executive Officer, Super League Gaming.

Twelve invited teams—six from North America, four from EMEA and two from APAC—will compete in Valorant, Rocket League and EA Sports FC 25. Competitors play on identical, stage-center PCs wired through a private 10-gigabit fiber loop, eliminating the latency discrepancies that often plague mixed-format events. Redundant 5G encoders push the match feed to Super League’s cloud broadcast hub, then out to regional edge servers that guarantee <120 ms end-to-end delay for viewers in 42 countries.

Sponsors are anchoring the experiment with multimillion-dollar activation packages. Kia America returns as presenting partner after a successful 2024 LCS season and will integrate its new “Multi-Lane Camera View” into the arena’s 360-degree halo board, letting on-site audiences watch every player POV at once.

Meanwhile, Verizon 5G and Intel Core Ultra processors power the player rigs and remote broadcast kit, respectively. Super League projects a $4.8 million production budget offset by $7.2 million in sponsorship and media-rights sales, yielding an operating margin above 30 %—a figure the company says outperforms traditional single-format events by double digits.

“Champions Arena is our answer to the question every publisher and brand is asking: how do you scale intimacy?” Edelman noted. “By synchronizing a 12,000-seat crowd with a global stream, we unlock dual revenue tracks—ticket, concessions and on-site merch plus CPM-based digital ads and platform bounties—while giving players the adrenaline that only comes from stage lights and live chants.”

Early analytics support the gamble. Super League’s September closed-beta simulcast of the Super Girl Gamer Pro averaged 112,000 concurrent viewers and sold out the 3,000-seat San Diego venue in 17 minutes. Internal models predict the December series will peak at 410,000 concurrent streams and generate 98 million social impressions through official co-streamers and TikTok creator partners.

Tickets start at $45 for single-day access and $199 for the four-weekend “Season Pass.” VIP packages include player meet-and-greets, behind-the-scenes tours of the broadcast truck and a collectible NFC badge that unlocks digital skins in participating games. Remote viewers can purchase a $4.99 “All-Access” pass for exclusive command-center streams, instant replays and integrated Twitch Drops.

“Hybrid isn’t a compromise—it’s a multiplier,” Edelman said. “We’re proving that when production values, network engineering and fan-centric design converge, the total addressable audience is greater than the sum of its parts. Our league is built for the next decade of esports growth, not the last one.”

Super League Gaming (Nasdaq: SLGG) is a leading creator of live and digital esports experiences. The company produces elite tournaments, community festivals and original content that connect players, fans and partners across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information visit www.superleague.com.