Wisdom Gaming sees esports opportunity at Mall of America

Wisdom Gaming this month will host the official opening of its new studio at the Mall of America.

It’s an 18,000-square-foot facility on the fourth floor, (the former Dick's Last Resort space) and it includes a sound stage with a greenscreen shell, two control rooms, event space for watch parties and VIPs, and a retail store called Side Quest.

The Business Journal reported on the planned launch of the esports venue last fall.

The space will be the home of Torrent Esports and Wisdom’s other esports endeavors. During a soft opening, the event has held national events like Wild Rift’s North American championship (which drew over 8,000 people) and a regional high school esports event (the Minnesota Varsity League Spring Finals). The deal to create the space stemmed from a personal relationship Wisdom founder and CEO Mike Zweigbaum had with Mall of America’s ownership, the Triple Five Group. No agencies were used in striking the pact.

Mike Zweigbaum (left) and Blake Baratz (right) along with T.J. McLeod (not pictured) have launched an esports company called Wisdom Gaming Group. They are pictured in their Warehouse District office, which also has been used for tournaments with high school players.

Nancy Kuehn

It’s the mall's flexibility that drew Wisdom there (such as having multi-floor viewing available at The Rotunda at the mall for the Wild Rift event). It also helps that the Mall of America draws over 40 million visitors a year, which means Wisdom will no doubt see some small slice of these folks wander into its store and buy some merch.

"A lot of it was a mutual understanding of what we get from the Mall of America and what the Mall of America gets from having a well-known production company and Torrent,” Wisdom Senior VP Jaycie Gluck tells Sports Business Journal.

With a second control room, Wisdom can also offer remote production services. “The pandemic allowed us to show our chops for conducting entire leagues, entire ecosystems,” she noted. But Wisdom also sees potential in using the studio to host other gaming events, such as when publishers might be announcing new game titles.

Wisdom worked with Mall of America’s preferred vendors on the studio buildout, and it brought in Alpha Video & Audio, which plays in esports and traditional sports, to work on the studio. Wisdom is also partnering with iHeartMedia on the grand opening, with some local radio personalities broadcasting from the studio.