'Game-changing' new esports arena, Calgary's first, opens at Bow Valley College

Calgary's first esports arena opened at Bow Valley College on Wednesday.

The 70-seat arena will serve as a hub for competitions, innovation and game development.

"There is a lot of great grassroots activity happening here," said Michael Crowe, academic vice president with Bow Valley College.

"I think what's been missing from that ecosystem has been a facility like this and the expertise that this type of facility brings to the community."

• In Pictures: Calgary's first esports arena opens at Bow Valley College

The 3,500 sq. ft. (325 sq. m) arena sits in the college's south campus.

It has more than $1 million in technology, including 40 competition-ready gaming stations, two motion-rigged racing simulators, a state-of-the-art broadcast suite and a dedicated varsity esports training room.

The arena cost approximately $5 million to build and equip.

"The opening of this arena is a game-changing moment, igniting a wave of growth and investment in Calgary's digital media and entertainment arts sector," said Luke Azevedo, operations and film commissioner with Calgary Economic Development.

"This, gaming, VFX, animation, all of the different aspects of this that really give an opportunity to have it be another generational, impact on the creative sector, this is a pathway to jobs, to investment, and to create Calgary as a location of choice for some of the brightest and best in the world."

Azevedo says with this facility, it's now about learning more about the business that e-sports is.

"Understanding how to monetize the activity that goes on here and how we develop that side of the creative sector," he said.

"Now, we're in a position where we can broadcast right out of this building. That's an investment that those streamers don't need to make and can just engage in as part of this."

Inside Calgary's first esports arena at Bow Valley College on Sept. 25, 2024. The facility will focus on developing students and esports students like Nick Olmstead.

"We can now be a part of this massive group of like over 350 schools that can compete against each other and have the same events as everybody else," he said.

"(It's) a dream come true for me in this setting. This is the greatest thing I could have been a part of."

Olmstead says he has been a gamer since he was four years old, focusing on many games such as Call of Duty and Valorant.

He says he was working construction, until he heard Bow Valley College had this program.

"When the school brought up this program, I was like, 'I have to I have to jump on this,'" he said.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime, to be a part of something like this. So, I quit, I came here and I'm never going to look back."

The facility can hold up to 70 people and will be used for the college's Accelerator program supporting a minimum of 18 companies annually. There are 20 businesses enrolled this fall.

Accelerators are game developers, content creators, coaching and league businesses.