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A Rundown on Sports and Esports Events in Philly 2024
Written by: Oscar Brennan
For sports and esports enthusiasts, traveling to distant cities and countries to show support for their favorite teams and players is nothing new.
According to insights from NPR’s Whyy News, the Philadelphia tourism economy has enjoyed a recent uptick thanks to an upward trend in its tourism and hospitality sectors. Hotels across Philadelphia’s Center City were 73% occupied between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2024, a 9.5% increase over the last year. Meanwhile, officials from Visit Philly note a “continued recovery and growth” in the travel and hospitality sector, with a sizable 24% jump compared to numbers from 2022.
In addition to the positive stats, experts indicate that a strong travel trend among Philly visitors is a search for unique experiences. As such, Philadelphia has grown into a popular location for all kinds of niches and interests — from sports to esports, across various sports and video game genres.
For the uninitiated, we’ll be sharing some of the notable sports and esports events that took place in the city recently, as well as some upcoming events to look forward to:
Recent Events
Before we look at the upcoming Philly events, it can also help to look at recent events throughout the city that you may have missed and are likely to return next year.
Below are some recent sports and esports events throughout Philadelphia:
WrestleMania in Philly
In April, WrestleMania came to Philadelphia for the first time since 1999. Thousands of WWE fans flocked to Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field for two days to witness the annual wrestling spectacle. Last year, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) estimated that the event generated $215 million in economic impact for the Los Angeles region, up from the $206.5 million generated for the Dallas/Arlington region the year before. Fans were treated to two nights of 14 matches, with the first night’s main event culminating in The Bloodline duo of The Rock and Roman Reigns defeating Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a tag team match.
This was also the first WrestleMania held after the WWE merged with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in September 2023 and the first-ever WrestleMania not directly under the famed Vince McMahon’s control. For wrestling fans who couldn’t make it to Lincoln Financial Field, this was also the final WrestleMania event to live stream on the standalone WWE Network, as future WWE content is set to move to streaming platform Netflix.
The inaugural FIFA Club eTournament
In September, the first-ever FIFA Club eTournament, which took place at Localhost Philly, also took place. The inaugural FC eTournament is one of the biggest of its kind in Philly and is a nod to the city’s soccer community and its love for the game. Sixty aspiring champions competed against one another in a double-elimination tournament format, boasting a coveted $1,000 grand prize. The event also included complimentary sandwiches, chips, pretzels, water, and soft drinks for attendees.
The event is part of EA Games’ initiative to celebrate the game’s players and community members. Dubbed community tournaments and events like the FC eTournament at Localhost are a great step forward for non-commercial esports events surrounding the game. This is a crucial initiative for the game studio fresh off the discontinuation of the former FIFA games series due to the termination of EA and FIFA’s licensing agreement. The rebrand of the FIFA video game franchise was met with initial confusion from long-time fans and soccer enthusiasts, which makes local community events like the FC eTournament in Philly essential for rebuilding community and hype over the much-loved soccer video game franchise.
Aurora Women’s Call of Duty League
Also hosted over at Localhost Philly, local gamers and fans of the long-time shooter franchise Call of Duty (CoD) enjoyed a championship LAN tournament celebrating amateur and women talent in the CoD esports scene. Organized by Call of Duty Agent and EZone Media, the event was a nine-team championship tournament that saw Unjustified take home the grand trophy following a dominant and undefeated run throughout the tournament, including a convincing grand finals victory over Omit.
Aside from the trophy and glory, Unjustified’s four-woman team took home a sizable $3,000 grand prize, with player Anarchy taking home the MVP title. While certainly not as large as official Call of Duty League events, the Aurora Women’s League took place throughout five Majors, all culminating in the LAN finals at Localhost. The official Call of Duty League also has a Female Pro League, colloquially dubbed the FPL, which unfortunately hasn’t hosted new events since the last Showcase event in 2019. The FPL also mainly focused on female CoD teams hailing from Europe and North America. Fortunately, smaller community and local events like the Aurora Women’s Call of Duty tournament are a great initiative to reignite excitement around women’s Call of Duty talent in the scene.
Upcoming Events
As you can see, the range of local events throughout Philly cover a wide variety of interests, whether you’re heavily into traditional sports or enjoy the rapidly growing competitive gaming landscape. Below are some upcoming events you’ll want to watch out for:
Philadelphia 76ers Preseason Schedule
The Sixers were set to head to the Bahamas for training camp to kick off the team’s preseason games. One key match-up to look forward to is the Sixers’ upcoming encounter against a non-NBA opponent — the New Zealand Breakers from Australia’s National Basketball League. The game is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center. 76ers fans who regularly participate in NBA betting can look forward to Embiid, and the Sixers won’t have to wait too long with preseason games coming up, but there will be more on that later. Fans optimistic about the return of All-Stars Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to the team can keep up to date with their odds throughout the preseason on the online betting platform Thunderpick, which offers a Live Mode where fans can watch games and place bets in real-time. Post offseason activities, Sixers fans will have the home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 23.
Philadelphia Eagles’ Early Bye Week
Away from the basketball court, Philly sports fans will have the Philadelphia Eagles to look forward to. The football team is set to have an early bye week, the first in nearly a decade, and a much-needed one considering recent performances. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has spoken about the lack of coaching and training time. Previously, the Eagles suffered a brutal 33-16 loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after missing several starters on offense, including star wide receiver A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson on the offensive line. The Eagles’ early bye week will be a great opportunity for the team to recover and rethink plays for the rest of the season.
That Local Jawn Weekly Smash Ultimate tournaments
Finally, esports and gaming hub Localhost Philly has a host of friendly local tournaments for esports enthusiasts. This includes the That Local Jawn Weekly Smash Ultimate tournament, celebrating local talent in the much-loved crossover fighting title by Bandai Namco.
The weekly tournament has a $10 venue fee and a $5 Singles Entry fee that contributes to the prize pool.
Of course, this is only one of many esports and gaming events routinely held at Philly Localhost, and gamers are sure to find a niche or title they enjoy covered at the local gaming hub.
PHOTO: Pexels
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Categorized:eSports More PHL News Sports Betting WegENT Blog