Claim To Fame Brings Events To New York When Others Don't Know How
By Jesse Collins ·
With esports getting bigger every day, schools and other venues want to get into the game by hosting events. But, how do they do it? They call Mike Crossman and Claim To Fame Entertainment! We sat down with Mike and asked how it all works with them.
With the uprise of esports in the modern era, communities, states, and even countries are looking at ways to host events of their own. We recently had the ability to site down with Mike Crossman, CEO of Claim to Fame Entertainment LLC. Located in Albany, NY, Claim to Fame is an esports entertainment company that focuses on the development of the esports community by providing venue space to host events.
In a newly formed, unsure world, schools and venues don’t really know where to start. Crossman has them all covered.
“We have hosted events for esports and gaming enthusiasts from middle school to young professionals,” he started. “We host events every Monday night at a local mall. We have even held events at local high schools and colleges. We provide the equipment along with prizes and giveaways. We have professional equipment that may be too expensive for everyday players to access and currently host with 5 staff members.”
He continued by explaining that they host a bi-weekly Super Smash 4 event. On opposite Mondays, they run Fortnite, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Street Fighter V. He noted the difference between older and newer games. “I believe it is easier to help older gamers to have older games because the community is looking to expand their reach and we have the equipment to help them out. New games need to establish a community which is fun to venture in, but older games are just easier.”
He explained to me how their events run. “Our largest event was at the Lucky Strike in Albany, NY, and was this past summer with ten Overwatch teams. We also had players for Tekken 7 and Injustice 2. In total, it was 80 gamers on a Monday night. We had around twenty spectators, most of which were just other gamers.”
Mike went on to explain that while they are currently console based for events, they hope to move to include computer games as soon as they find a dedicated location. Mike crosses his fingers and said he hopes that’ll come this Spring, 2018. “It will be easier to have our own place,” he commented. “Moving the equipment is a pain and storing the equipment is a hassle.”
Mike has a lot of experience running events and tournaments, so we wanted to get his insight on how to run an event, for those without access to his services.
“Organizers’ biggest mistake,” he said, “is that they rush the process of building the community for events. Marketing is another problem that organizers rush through and don't take their time to focus on the community. This can be avoided by engaging the community on a friendly but professional level. The best way to build the community is to create a friendly and safe atmosphere. Allow players to feel like a professional gamer even at the little events.”
In addition to the events held, they handle a live stream on Twitch to show off many of their events as they happen. They will be running events during Generic Con at RPI on March 2, 2018, and they are holding a regional event for Super Smash Brothers for Wii U on April 28, 2018.
For more interviews with people that run events, check out our interview with Felipe Felisberto and how he plans to make Brazil into an esports hotspot!