Tourism boss proposes bringing big-money video-game tournaments to Doncaster

So called e-sports have become a major business with some competitions for games such as Fortnite and Counter-Strike now having prize pots running into millions of pounds.

The Fortnite World Cup has been held in New York.

The new chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, James Mason, has suggested Doncaster could bid for tournaments in what is a growing industry.

The borough is due to host matches in the Rugby League World Cup next year, and a team is due to be based in the borough.

He said Yorkshire had to get out and listen to different ideas.

He said if there was a bid for a 2030 football world cup South Yorkshire could play a part with its range of hotels.

He said: “We’d like to bring American football or baseball here. College football in America can get 120,000 people. We could even bring college teams to Bramall Lane or the Keepmoat in Doncaster. It’s happened at Tottenham. Why couldn’t we look at that?

“What about e-gaming? It is the future. We took a young lad to Boston on an e-gaming scholarship. Why can’t we bring e-gaming to Doncaster? Why can’t Doncaster be a venue for international sports and e-gaming?”

He said he was fully aware of all the events that have been taking place in Doncaster in recent years, such as entertainment, music and food and drink festivals.

Next years rugby league world cup is due to see three games played at the Keepmoat Stadium and a team based in Doncaster, could bring in between £2million and £5 million locally, says Jon Dutton, chief executive of Rugby League World Cup 2021.

Eight per cent of visitors for the tournament were expected to be from overseas.

Mr Mason said Welcome to Yorkshire had more recently been linked to cycling, but the sport had been used to put the county on a global scale, and had been good for civic pride.

Doncaster has hosted sections of the Tour de Yorkshire on several occasions, although this years tournament has been postponed due to coronavirus.

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