Establishing pro gaming will take time, says Reif

Championship Gaming Series commissioner Andy Reif says that establishing pro gaming as sports entertainment is a long-term prospect.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Reif, who had been the Chief Operating Officer of the AVP Pro Volleyball Tour, says that any sports property takes a while to make money.

"I was part of a group that bought the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour in 2001. The AVP has been around since 1983, had some success in the 80's and 90's, fell on hard times, and we bought it.

"It was really down and out. There weren't any fans, there weren't any sponsors, and it wasn't covered on television. That was a property that had a brand behind it and some fan base, at least, and that took six years to really turn it around. It takes a while."

Reif, who joined the CGS in April, was attracted by the long-term vision of DirecTV executives David Hill, Steven Roberts, and Eric Shanks.

"[What sold me on it] was their understanding that you don't make an NFL or an NBA in a day. Or a NASCAR, for that matter.

"NASCAR, apart from the NFL, is by far the biggest sport in this country. It's been around for 40 years or so. Only in the last 10 years or so did it really explode."

Reif anticipates that a similar explosion will eventually happen with pro gaming.

"We're really lucky because a lot more people play videogames than drive stock cars. So we have a real opportunity to blow this up a lot quicker, but it is not going to happen in a day," he said.

The first part of our interview with Andy Reif can be read here.