Bloomington’s Rise as Esports Destination Profiled at EsportsTravel Summit

Bloomington, Minnesota, is a shining example of what a destination can do with their own unique assets when it comes to esports.

From successful activations at the Mall of America to a grassroots gaming festival that attracts visitors from around the word, Bloomington has leaned into its civic treasures to plant a flag in the industry, panelists described during the spotlight session at this year’s EsportsTravel Summit at the Mall of America.

Bloomington (Minnesota) Travel and Tourism started an esports grant program in 2015, said Destination Sales Director Todd Lehrke, to market, promote and help event organizers bring their events to town. Grants start at $2,500 and Lehrke says they have proven to be popular.

“We take every event on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “We’re happy to support these events with activations really starting at the airport, however we can grow and support the event is always the goal.”

Another thing Bloomington does is work to partner esports with its traditional sports events whenever possible. The destination will be hosting the Special Olympics USA Games in June 2026 and the region will host the IIHF World Junior Championships that start December 26, 2025, and last through early January 2026.

“One other thing we’ve done is activating esports events at our traditional sports events, hockey and basketball youth sporting events at destination,” Lehrke said. “It’s been really nice to enhance those events and tie in the esport component with that. … It’s great to get everybody coming into the destination and to promote and benefit the Mall of America.”

One activation the Mall of America did was a Mt. Drew AMP Game Fuel esports lounge for nearly a month in 2019. The lounge was set up in an unused space at the Mall and gave people the opportunity to try the drink as well as compete in games.

“We’re always trying to do events that are fun and entertaining for people,” said Kevin Robb, director of corporate partnerships for the Mall of America. “Having really cool events is what we’re about. Esports works hand in hand with what we do.”

Robb says the Mall’s Rotunda area is a natural place for esports events to be held and it connects those who come for esports with those who are walking around the Mall on a given day and are intrigued by it.

“We’re big on connecting our built-in traffic with the brands or the gaming event,” Robb said. “You’re going to reach a lot of people who don’t even know if they’re at a gaming event.”

The esports industry does continue to grow, as shown by Tyler Othen’s presentation of CSL’s analysis of the market. He said Tuesday that there were 430 events in 2034, nearly double the 234 events held in 2018.

CSL also highlighted 10 in-person, U.S.-based esports events in 2023 and split them into two categories, grassroots and world/large event. The world/large event numbers averaged 12,360 in attendance with around a third visiting a destination through an airport and 45% coming from more than 250 miles away. For grassroots and smaller events, the average in-person attendance was 7,500 with 18% visiting from more than 250 miles away.

2D Con is a Bloomington-based event organizer that has grown in scale over the years and has done 50 tournaments per year currently, utilizing venues around the region.

“It’s one of the best areas to try and get tourists to an esports area,” said Joe Opsahl, president and founder of 2D Con. “It’s a very wonderful place to have events at. When we started doing events we started in Bloomington. We’ve always been kind of Bloomington born and Bloomington based. This city is perfect for events.”

“You can do esports events anywhere, you can do gaming anywhere,” added Kiki Snell, 2D Con’s chief marketing officer.