These are the kinds of events that benefit a community — even if the community has no idea they’re even taking place.
Friday, thousands of superheros, street gang members, martial-arts masters and other combatants will invade the Ocean Center — prepared to battle to the death.
And Daytona Beach should make darn sure it shows them a good time.
The event is the CEO Gaming Championships. And it’s just one of the high-energy, large-scale events Daytona Beach has attracted in the past year — including the Shriners, who return to Daytona Beach in mid-July hot on the heels of the big gaming convention. That event, which draws thousands of Shriners from around the globe and is scheduled in Daytona Beach for the second year in a row, has drawn most of the local attention. But local tourism authorities have scored several other big “gets.” Earlier this month, the Ocean Center hosted a huge Christian youth gathering. And the number of cheerleading, gymnastics and dance competitions keeps stacking up, bringing more than 10,000 visitors to the area.
There are other events that, while not as large scale, will bring positive attention to Daytona Beach in the coming months, including the U.S. Sports Congress and the Southeast Tourism Society’s annual meeting.
These are the kinds of events that benefit a community — even if the community has no idea they’re even taking place. And they are what Daytona Beach needs more of.
The gaming convention is a prime example. The event started in Orlando — in fact, the “O” in CEO Gaming stands for Orlando. But it outgrew its venue, founder and director Alex Jebailey told the Orlando Business Journal — and so he moved to Daytona Beach, where there was less competition from theme park-bound tourists, with a two-year deal that will bring the event back in 2019. But the event has always had something of a local connection: Jebailey told ESPN.com that he first played fighting-style games during trips to Daytona Beach arcades.
The CEO events focus on high-stakes tournaments for fighting games, such as Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Street Fighter. Last year’s championships drew more than 4,400 gamers and spectators — yes, there are people who will travel to another city just to watch others play video games. In fact, gaming, also known as e-sports, is a huge business, with millions tuning in to watch matches on the Internet and superstar players claiming big-dollar tournament winnings. And that’s the other benefit for local tourism: The CEO 2018 championships will be streamed on platforms like Twitch.tv. While most of that attention will be focused on the games, an entire new (and vast) audience will also catch glimpses of people having a great time in Daytona Beach.
And they’ll be doing it without monster trucks and motorcycles that clog traffic, or sound systems that blare through quiet residential neighborhoods in the dead of night.
Whenever Daytona Beach lands an event of this magnitude — or multiple events — it’s worth celebrating. The nation’s top fighting-game players have yet to arrive here — let alone square off for the big-dollar prize pools the CEO Gaming event will offer — but this one is already in the “win” column for local tourism officials.