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BUILDING AN ESPORTS CULTURE IN MILWAUKEE
Brandon Tschacher remembers typing “Milwaukee esports” into a search engine several years ago, wanting to find more information about the city’s competitive video gaming landscape. But his esports inquiry only returned “a mishmash of disjointed search results.”
“This is the state’s largest metro area, and esports is a billion-dollar industry in the U.S.,” he remembers thinking. “If I can’t find information on how to get involved here, how could anyone else?”
So, in November 2020, he began building what is now the MKEsports Alliance, an organization that works to create intersection points for the Wisconsin gaming community. It also advocates nationally for the region to attract esports investment.
The alliance recently held the second annual Wisconsin Esports Summit at UWM Panther Arena, drawing 136 organizations and more than 350 attendees.
The ultimate goal of the alliance is to continue boosting economic development around the sector in Wisconsin, said Tschacher, who earned a business administration degree from UWM in 2008. The ecosystem encompasses not only players and teams, but also the facilities, gaming lounges, marketing, and tourism and hospitality sectors.
Gaming tournaments go back more than 20 years, but the industry has really exploded since the early 2010s, Tschacher said. And, while large tournament events aren’t yet frequent in Milwaukee, he is betting that the alliance’s influence will stimulate that trend.
Such a catalyst has helped other U.S. cities gain ground in attracting the different facets of competitive gaming in esports, said Tschacher, who also operates the Chalker Group, a business consulting company.
And Tschacher sees esports as an opportunity to promote STEM education – the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math. Working with New Horizons of Wisconsin and Milwaukee Public Schools, Tschacher helped develop a summer camp program that introduces school-age children to marketable skills that help bring competitive gaming to life. – Laura
L. Otto
