With the NFL in our backyard and MLB on the way, it’s time we started thinking about another Las Vegas sports division: the Global Gaming League.
The brainchild of Clinton Sparks, a Grammy-nominated producer and co-founder of the professional gaming and lifestyle brand XSET, the Vegas-based GGL disrupts the traditional esports model by connecting competitive video gaming culture with entertainment. Imagine all the spectacle and drama of a WWE match, paired with the professionalism and prestige of the NFL and celebrity team owners calling the shots.
“You need to bring all these things together,” says Sparks. “When you see Swae Lee hanging out with Sylvester Stallone, it changes things. When you see Snoop Dogg with Martha Stewart, it changes things. It connects cultures. It builds bridges. It closes age gaps. It makes people more connected globally.”
Jason “JRoc” Craig
If there’s anyone who could bring a star-studded endeavor like this to Las Vegas, it’s Sparks. The tastemaker has produced music for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. He’s been lowered in via helicopter to perform a DJ set in Vegas. And he’s propelled renowned esports teams like FaZe Clan forward, reining in high-profile investments from Pitbull and Migos’ Offset during a time when that seemed insane.
With the GGL, Sparks has established a wide and varying leadership team that includes everyone from rapper and avid Twitch streamer T-Pain to Las Vegas hospitality veteran Jason “JRoc” Craig.
Sparks fully expects the league to ruffle esports fans’ feathers as they bring celebrities into the fold. But there’s a reason the WWE ballooned in popularity after introducing storylines and crossover celebs and creating monumental characters.
“I didn’t know much about wrestling, I just knew Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. It was the names that started getting you excited,” Sparks says. “So basically implementing the same thing that’s worked in the most multi-billion dollar way with WWE, that could literally be transferred into gaming.”
That line of thinking also applies to the recent boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. It was the most streamed sporting event in history, and not because all 108 million Netflix viewers were boxing fans.
The same goes for the record-breaking Fortnite session Twitch streamer Ninja hosted with Drake in 2018. That collaboration brought a whole new audience to the video gaming platform.
So far, celebrities like Jermaine Dupri,T-Pain, Lil Durk, Nick Cannon and Bryce Hall have already signed on as team owners. The GGL owns 50% of the team as well and handles all the managing, staffing and merchandising. The league then curates a group of casual and skilled gamers to participate in live competitions over a 61-match season. A fourth team member will then be selected through a global nomination process. And like any athlete, team members are compensated, in this case with a $50,000 base salary.
“When you come from the hood, like me, you look at music and sports as a way out,” Sparks says. “Gaming is a third vertical that no one’s talking about, and it’s faster, cheaper and safer. There’s nothing out here that’s showing people that or educating them or enlightening them or empowering them to participate.”
The GGL will debut its 43,000-square-foot campus at its grand opening in Las Vegas on December 14, along with the GGL Academy.“I’m really excited for that because it’s creating this new pathway for gamers to essentially become professionals where maybe there wasn’t that structure before,” Craig adds.
Sparks says they’ll also work with the local gaming community as the league prepares for its inaugural season launching in May 2025. He’s in talks with various streaming platforms and networks to broadcast the competitions, which will operate like “a mini ComplexCon,” with meet and greets and merch drops happening throughout the day.
The goal is to bring more legitimacy to gaming as a career and to erase the stigma that gaming is just for kids and nerds, he says.
“It’s for everybody. The average age of a gamer is 34 years old. When you tell people how many women game, they’re blown away,” Sparks says. “There’s scholarships for gaming now. It helps with critical thinking, problem solving in the future. Engineers are gamers. Studies show that it helps with depression. There’s just so much value behind gaming.”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!
