Bisons seeks to consolidate itself in the LoL Super League with a budget of one million euros

Bisons want to continue in the elite of League of Legends. The Biscayan eSports team, founded in November 2021 and owned by a group of Basque businessmen from the sports and entertainment sector, seeks to establish itself in the Superliga de League of Legends with a budget of one million euros in 2023the same as in 2022. In addition, the company estimates that it will reach break even in 2024.

After reaching the final of the divided of the competition in its debut, the entity is now looking diversify your business beyond the eSports segment. “We had an outstanding 2022 at a time when we stood up to big brands like Koi, Team Heretics or FC Barcelona, ​​ours being the least strong; Now we have won the hearts of the fans and we are the people’s team”, says Aritz González, club director, to Palco23.

The entity is structured into four business branches: eSports, events (hand in hand with the BBK music festival), entertainment (with the generation of content) and education. In this way, the club has set itself the objective of “diversifying beyond the king of sports that legitimizes you as an eSports club” because “you cannot live only from this”.

Bisons raises the option of playing the European league of Valorant

In the competitive segment, the challenge will be to “settle down” despite “to the tension that exists due to the drop in audiences ”. “An in-depth study is being carried out to see why it is due and if it is because of the jump of Spanish teams to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) or because it is played on Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” he adds. “What we know is that the audience per minute (AMA) is maintained, so our hard fan it is there, but the punctual follower has fallen”, he points out.

In this way, in 2023 it will develop the training segment especially, with educational and training actions in schools, institutes and town halls in the Basque Country and it has been marked to work with events such as Bilbao BBK Live and Bime. “Music and video games are culture,” says the manager.

The club entered the Super League after a payment of 200,000 euros

Looking ahead to 2024, the club does not rule out opening up to new titles and territories, although, to do so, it proposes increase your capital and attract investors. “The club is open to possible entries from members and shareholders, the option is always there and this would help our growth,” he acknowledges.

Thus, one of the options would go through To return to Valorant and compete in the Valorant Champions Tour, the European video game league. “There are not yet large audiences and it is difficult to defend sponsorship in this segment,” he acknowledges. He will also study entering other titles and making the leap to other geographic markets.

The club, based in the Euskalduna Palace from Bilbao, has a team of between twenty and twenty-five employees. Currently, its income comes mainly from sponsorship, but also from grants and training events, merchandising and player sales. The entity maintains an agreement with the Diputación de Vizcaya to be able to use the palace as the club’s headquarters.

Bisons entered the Super League in 2022 after acquiring the place that BCN Squad vacated a few months ago, upon payment of almost 200,000 euros. The club is led by Gorka Arrinda, former president of Bilbao Basket, as well as other executives linked to the BBK festival.