METRO IS A MULTICULTURAL ESPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION AGENCY, CREATING AND PRODUCING DIGITAL, SOCIAL, MOBILE AND LIVE EVENTS DESIGNED TO ATTRACT, ENGAGE AND UPLIFT A BROAD AND DIVERSE AUDIENCE OF GAMING AND TECHNOLOGY ENTHUSIASTS.
A college football player, I don’t come from the world of esports as I only understood competition from an athletic perspective. In 2009 I launched a company called JuniorRank Sports in an effort to create showcase opportunities for student athletes to display their natural skills to college programs looking to offer scholarships. That platform grew almost 400% over the next 2 years, as I went from creating local events in the Chicago area attracting less than 50 athletes at a time, to the year 2011 where I was producing high-profile / high-volume events in every major market. Title sponsored by the United States Marine Corps, our Semper Fidelis football program went from a concept designed in my living room to an annual bowl game that ran on the NFL, CBS Sports and ESPN television networks until 2016. Over the course of those years, I was able to help more than 1,500 young athletes get partial or full athletic scholarships. Additionally, I was able to scout and identify high school talent such as Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Deforest Buckner and many more NFL 1ST round draft picks and Super Bowl Competitors.
In the year 2017, I was approached by a very large national organization who wanted to know if I was still producing esports events because I would purchase XBOX’s and PlayStation consoles for my weekend events, in an effort to keep the young guys busy at the host hotels and not too eager to go out. This practice somehow created a reputation for me as an esports event creator and after some industry due diligence I was hooked. The transition from traditional sports to esports for me was all about the industry laws of probability. It’s much easier for me to identify or develop a potential game programmer, game developer, game designer or event caster than for me to find a guy that 6’5 inches tall and weighs 400lbs. Esports offers so many tech-focused professions, I thought it was the socially responsible thing to do in offering more practical and realistic career opportunities than the NFL or NBA.
The Metro Organization is an innovator in that we are constantly looking for new ways to organically add culture to an equation that has been left out since the start of the industry more than 40 years ago. Looking for creative and authentic ways to attract and engage a black & brown audience has reshaped how we look at everything we do from teams to events, to production. Our tech-education program is focused on offering alternative pathways, particularly for young people from communities or institutions that lack resources, equipment or access. We are doing our best to be agents of positive change.
Metro is a Philly based 7,000 square foot gaming and technology education center. Our local partnerships with the YMCA, American Cancer Society and Drexel University here in Philadelphia, allows us access to a diverse pool of quality interns and strategic partnership initiatives supporting targeted and specific areas of the city.
We greatly look forward to:
– The launch of The Philly Metro-Squad – The world’s 1st multicultural/coed Pro Valorant team in the fall
– Our 2021 cultural partnership with ESL/Dreamhack giving us the opportunity to create unique events and activities focused on engaging an untapped market of gaming & tech. enthusiasts of color.
– The launch of the next (2) Metro Esports Gaming & Technology Center locations in the US
