As eSports leagues and teams look to grow, a central question becomes one around business models. Many participants are considering the pros and cons of franchising.

Esports Observer: “Franchising has been an important tool in getting traditional sports investors involved in esports in recent years, but the effectiveness of the system itself conversely remains a controversial and hotly debated topic within gaming.”

“Proponents of the move say that franchising has added investment, a more sophisticated business structure, stability, expertise, and enterprise value to esports. That’s because the ubiquity of the franchising model in traditional sports has helped make the structure of esports leagues more understandable and thus more alluring to prospective owners and advertisers.”

“But questions remain about whether some of the franchise fees were exorbitant, whether geo-location is the best way to unlock fandom for franchised leagues, and whether some games that are currently not franchised would be best served by staying that way.”