Popular esports tournament organizer Nerd Street Gamers has raised $12 million in investments from Five Below and other companies. The investment will go towards building new esports training centers in multiple locations, including facilities housed on university campuses. Nerd Street Gamers is a Philadelphia-based company, known for their series of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments known as Fragadelphia.
The $12 million investment comes from American discount chain Five Below, along with Comcast, Elevate Capital, SeventySix Capital, and angel investor George Miller. The funds will be used to build Localhost esports training facilities across the United States, some of which will be connected to select Five Below stores. The training centers will be open for both professional and amateur esports players. The Localhosts will be used for esports training boot camps and showcases, as well as esports leagues and regular tournaments. Nerd Street Gamers has expanded across the US in the past, as they have Localhost centers in Denver, Colorado, and Huntington Beach, California. The latter was just opened last month, housing NSG's Fragadelphia 13 as its inaugural tournament. The event was fittingly nicknamed "Fragafornia" by the CS:GO community.
Though the plans could include 70 or more new Localhost locations, the initiative will begin with a multi-store pilot in 2020. The centers connected to Five Below chains will be 3,000 square feet, and will be available for professional and amateur esports teams and players. Any further developments will be decided based on the success of the pilot. In a statement, Nerd Street Gamers CEO and founder John Fazio said that the funding from Five Below and the opportunity to build Localhost facilities "empowers our vision of a world where esports is accessible and inclusive for everyone." He later states, “Too few have access to the type of equipment and internet connections required to compete at the top levels, and by addressing that at a national scale we can increase real-life opportunities for millions of people.”
The expansion does not only include Five Below stores, as Nerd Street Gamers plans to develop 50 larger centers in regional and university campus locations. Last month, NSG announced that a Localhost at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, would be open to the public in October. This is the first public esports-dedicated training facility in a traditional sports stadium. They also disclosed that Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, will be the first of many colleges to house Localhost gaming facilities.