The UK will play host to a SuperDome esports tournament in September 2024, thanks to a West Midlands funding boost.
It’s one of nine sporting events taking place in the West Midlands over the next 14 months supported by a combined £3m of Commonwealth Games legacy funding, with the UK SuperDome event receiving £250,000 in particular.
It will take place from Thursday September 5th to Sunday September 8th 2024 at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, according to a spokesperson who told us Solihull Council is working with the venue for the event.
This is around the same time that Insomnia Gaming Festival takes place in the second half of the year at the Birmingham NEC, so you can expect the SuperDome event to run alongside Insomnia, like the Apex Legends ALGS Championship did last year.
Several SuperDome events have taken place in MENA and LATAM in recent years, including League of Legends’ SuperDome Cairo a couple of months ago, and Valorant’s off-season SuperDome 2022 also in Cairo, Egypt.
The next event in Valorant will take place in Cairo next week, featuring NASR, Falcons, Furia and FUT Esports.
While the UK SuperDome tournament’s game has not yet been revealed, we’ve reached out to organisers, who have promised to fill us in with more information later this week.
It’s possible the UK event could be focused on Valorant, given it’d take place after August’s Valorant Champions event, and there’s a gap in the 2024 Challengers calendar at the start of September, when the tournament is set to take place (thanks to caster HazzaJC for the intel).
SuperDome is organised by BME, a gaming and esports solutions provider which has offices in London and Cairo. The company also organises Insomnia Egypt.
BME has previously hosted off-season events for Valorant during the last two years in MENA and LATAM, so this is set to be the UK’s first SuperDome event.
ESL One Birmingham 2024 is another event that’s receiving £145,000 in funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority and the UK Government. Both events are taking place at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham and Solihull Council is working with the venue for them both. See below for more.
Following the publication of this article, SuperDome announced that Apeks, who play in the Northern Europe Polaris league, will be playing in the Cairo tournament this month, as will Turkish side BBL.
Full list of West Midlands sports and esports events benefitting from £3m funding boost
As mentioned, nine cultural and sporting events set to take place in the West Midlands have shared £3m of Commonwealth Games legacy funding.
Giving an estimated £11.5m boost to the local economy, almost 700,000 competitors, performers and spectators are expected to attend the events in 2024 and 2025 to celebrate the region’s sporting, music and cultural heritage.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the UK Government is supporting the organisers with money from the £70m Games underspend which is being reinvested back into the region.
“The effective organisation and delivery of the Commonwealth Games meant the event came in under budget,” according to a press release. “Following discussions between the Mayor and the WMCA’s local authority partners, the UK Government has decided to invest the remaining £70 million into the region to enhance the legacy of the Games and ensure the benefits continue their positive impact for many years to come.”
The most recent Commonwealth Games took place in 2022, with the UK Home Nations winning 11 medals at the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham.
The events that are to receive this funding are:
- ESL One – Dota 2 esports tournament, Solihull, 26-28 April 2024 – £145,000
- European Judo Union Junior Cup, Walsall, 15-19 June 2024 – £250,000
- Black Country Festival, 1-31 July, 2024 – £365,000
- Godiva Festival ‘Worldwide Welcome’, Coventry, 5-7 July 2024 – £500,000
- Reggae Fever – Celebration of Caribbean Culture, Coventry, 20 July 2024 – £250,000
- Birmingham Weekender Festival, 22-25 August 2024 – £350,000
- SuperDome esports tournament, Solihull, 5-8 September – £250,000
- West Midlands Urban Sports, Wolverhampton, 6-8 September 2024 – £390,000
- Kabaddi World Cup, 24-31 March 2025 – £500,000
Announced last summer, the SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit was the first event to receive legacy funding. The summit will bring together more than 1,500 global sports leaders and key decision makers to the West Midlands between April 7th and 11th 2024.
The news comes a year and a half after the Global Esports Federation announced a 10-year agreement to boost UK esports in the West Midlands.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said:
“It was always our intention that the Commonwealth Games should leave a lasting legacy far beyond the sporting spectacle – as wonderful as that was. With this £3 million of Games legacy funding, we’re turning words into action.”
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands
“This money will help us to host the Kabaddi World Cup and will support the organisers of well-established local events such as the Godiva Festival in Coventry, Birmingham Weekender and the Black Country Festival – alongside some new events.
“Collectively, this backing will bring in hundreds of thousands of people to our region, give a welcome boost to local businesses and provide valuable jobs and volunteering opportunities for local people. I look forward to seeing the difference this support makes on the ground and celebrating all that is great about the West Midlands in the months and years ahead.”
Businesses and community groups can find out more about how to benefit from the WMCA’s Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund at www.wmca.org.uk/what-we-do/commonwealth-games-legacy-enhancement-fund/.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
