F U T U R E 5 0 C R E AT I V E
MIKE RUFAIL
ESPORTS ENGINE
Founder and Chief Gaming Officer
Envy Gaming
cancellations early in 2020, esports found its time to shine. Rufail leads the Dallas-based Envy Gaming team, which was able to pivot in ways that other sports can’t. “Esports was born online, so while the cancellation of our live arena events was a significant shift, innovating in how we deliver online competition wasn’t,” Rufail says. The team can pull a crowd. When Envy’s Dallas Fuel team hosted Bud Light Homestand Weekend in Allen in 2019, it ended up selling out with over 4,500 tickets on both days of the esports event. Now, with safety precautions continuing to limit social gatherings, Rufail says, “We’re giving people more ways to engage with our players and teams than ever before—at an affordable price—with plenty of great incentives and in ways that traditional sports and entertainers don’t offer.” Envy’s new membership program comes with exclusive content and direct Team Envy access to fans. With Envy among the major esports organizations in Dallas-Fort Worth alongside Jerry Jones-owned CompLexity Gaming and Mark Cubanowned Mavs Gaming, the esports team looks to be on a major growth track, even amidst a pandemic. “The potential that esports has—not just in business, but in entertainment, hobbies, fandom, and more—is enormous and growing.” Rufail says. “We continue to see more and more North Texans want to be a part of that experience.”
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D A L L A S I N N O VAT E S | 2 0 2 1 E D I T I O N
P H OTO A R T : M I C H A E L S A M P L E S ; P H OTO C O U R T E S Y E N V Y G A M I N G
WHEN THE PANDEMIC LED TO MASS SPORTS