Understanding complexity and dynamics in the career development of eSports athletes

With the accelerated growth of the esports industry over the last few years, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of esports athletes. Yet there is limited research examining these athletes’ professional career journeys. This study provides a novel investigation into their career development process. This qualitative study uses a sample of 35 esports athletes from 16 professional esports clubs in China. Findings from semi-structured interviews confirmed our proposition that traditional career theories may be inadequate to capture the complex and dynamic nature of the newly emerged careers within esports. The authors propose that Chaos Theory in Careers (CTC) provides principles that may more effectively describe and explain the nature and main characteristics of esports careers, compared to the more conventional linear or stage-based sports career theories. This study makes a significant theoretical contribution through developing esports career theory which is applicable to a contemporary setting and has practical implications to practitioners for esports talent identification, recruitment and development.An analysis of the retention of sponsors of six North American sport leagues (MLB, MLS, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, and NHL).Results indicate that NASCAR and NFL sponsors are retained at a significantly higher level.Undergirded by schema theory, clutter and sponsoring at a lower level reduces the probability that sponsors are retained.Tech sponsors are more likely to exit, while automotive and credit card sponsors are more likely to be retained.Results improve understanding of sponsor retention, assisting sponsees in targeting sponsors that engage in longer-term relationships.