Esport: Defusing Governance Nicolai Bouet 55466 & Oskar Rørbye Rønn 43062 Master Thesis Pages: 103 Characters including spaces: 233,642 MSc International Business / Cand.merc.International Business Supervisor: Sven Junghagen Co-supervisor: Philippe Bochaton 15/05/2018 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to explore how esport is governed and to investigate whether governance is an important factor in esports at the professional level. To do this, the methodology developed by Geeraert and co-authors (2014) and AGGIS are combined to create a checklist of governance indicators for esport. Focusing on the relationship between game publishers, event organisers, and esport organisations, a sample of thirteen esports and eleven event organisers are investigated and eight interviews are conducted to obtain industry knowledge directly. Main findings are that esport is governed either by the game publisher, event organiser, or a combination of both, and that currently governance have a limited impact on esport. The potential limitations of this thesis are the lack of diversity across interviewees and lack of game publisher willingness to participate. 2 of 121 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 8 WHAT IS ESPORT? .......................................................................................................................................... 8 COMMERCIALISATION OF SPORT ................................................................................................................... 9 Foundation .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Codification ............................................................................................................................................. 11 Stratification ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Professionalisation .................................................................................................................................. 11 Post-Professionalisation ......................................................................................................................... 11 Commercialisation .................................................................................................................................. 11 Post-commercialisation ........................................................................................................................... 12 GOVERNANCE .............................................................................................................................................. 12 AGENCY THEORY ........................................................................................................................................ 14 OWNERSHIP .................................................................................................................................................. 17 REGULATION & LEGITIMACY ...................................................................................................................... 19 GOVERNANCE ROLES .................................................................................................................................. 20 ESPORT GOVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................. 22 THE AGGIS SPORTS GOVERNANCE OBSERVER .......................................................................................... 24 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 26 RESEARCH APPROACH ................................................................................................................................. 26 RESEARCH DESIGN ...................................................................................................................................... 26 DATA COLLECTION ...................................................................................................................................... 28 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ....................................................................................................................... 33 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................................... 35 COMMERCIALISATION OF ESPORT ............................................................................................................... 35 HOW IS ESPORT GOVERNED? ....................................................................................................................... 41 Governance Roles Across Esports .......................................................................................................... 45 WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF GOVERNANCE IN ESPORT? .................................................................................... 53 Transparency and Public Communication .............................................................................................. 53 Democratic Processes ............................................................................................................................. 58 Checks and Balances ............................................................................................................................... 63 Solidarity ................................................................................................................................................. 65 WHAT ARE THE MAIN GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES IN ESPORT? ................................................................ 71 Stakeholder Interest ................................................................................................................................ 71 Pro Esport vs. Community ...................................................................................................................... 73 Communication & Democracy ................................................................................................................ 76 Esport Rules ............................................................................................................................................ 79 Participant Integrity ................................................................................................................................ 81 Calendar Problem ................................................................................................................................... 81 ARE SUCCESSFUL ESPORTS RELATED TO AN INCREASED LEVEL OF GOVERNANCE? ................................. 85 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................. 91 ESPORT RULES ............................................................................................................................................. 91 DEMOCRACY & COMMUNICATION .............................................................................................................. 93 Calendar Problem ................................................................................................................................... 95 POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 96 3 of 121 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................ 102 JOURNAL ARTICLES ................................................................................................................................... 102 BOOKS ........................................................................................................................................................ 104 CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS .................................................................................................................... 106 VARIOUS ONLINE SOURCES ....................................................................................................................... 107 TWO ENTRIES THE SAME YEAR ................................................................................................................. 111 FILMS ......................................................................................................................................................... 112 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................................