Major esports event coming to PNC Arena in July

Apex Legends Global Series is bringing its Year 2 Championship to Raleigh's PNC Arena in July. The esports event is expected to draw thousands to the arena with millions watching online coverage.

Posted 3:46 p.m. Jun 6, 2022 — Updated 6:01 p.m. Jun 6, 2022

Brian Murphy

, WRAL sports investigative reporter

A major esports event is coming to Raleigh this summer.

PNC Arena will host the Apex Legends Global Series Year 2 Championship in July, marking the first esports event at the arena. It has long been a goal of the arena to host a major esports event. Apex Legends is a first-person shooter game from Electronic Arts.

"That has been something that has been coveted by the arena for several years now. And we finally got one," Jeff Merritt, the executive director of the Centennial Authority board, said last week during a board meeting of the Centennial Authority. The authority owns PNC Arena.

Tickets are now on sale for the July 7-10 event. It is the first time the championship will have a live audience. Forty teams from five regions across the world will compete in the event, which has a prize pool of $2 million. WRAL reported the event was coming to PNC Arena last week.

“Bringing ALGS to PNC Arena is a major milestone for the Apex brand and indicative of the title’s continued growth in the competitive scene,” John Nelson, senior director and commissioner of Apex Legends Esports at EA, said in a news release.

A playoff event in Sweden earlier this month set viewership records for an Electronic Arts event with more than 10.3 million hours of live content watched by viewers.

"We think it's going to be a blowout," Merrit told WRAL News. "It's tremendous, the number of people that will not be here that are watching it, though. If you're Raleigh, that's good. If you're PNC Bank with your name on the building. Live from PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina."

The Centennial Authority board approved last week a $50,000 rental offset as an incentive to land the event. North Carolina put a $10-million incentive program into its two-year budget passed last year to help attract esports events to the state. The Raleigh Convention Center hosted a Halo Championship Series Major Kickoff event in December, attracting thousands of competitors and spectators.

"The ALGS Championship will allow us the opportunity to further solidify Greater Raleigh and PNC Arena as a global esports and entertainment destination," said Don Waddell, president of the Carolina Hurricanes and PNC Arena, in a news release.

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