Miami-bound: KC eSports pioneer carrying gaming industry to the Super Bowl stage
January 28, 2020 | Austin Barnes
AbdulRasheed Yahaya never doubted his non-traditional career had mileage, but the KC eSports pioneer couldn’t have envisioned it would drive him to a Super Bowl, he said — let alone one set to feature the Kansas City Chiefs.
Midwest eSports, based in Wichita, is a pipeline for collegiate and amateur players to turn competitive video games into a healthy, structured and educational sport. Its founder, Ramsey Jamoul, recently graduated from the 2019 Pipeline fellowship.
“By God’s grace, I get to be a role model to the youth, [show them] that an African American man can lead the evolution of eSports [and align it] with field sports,” said Yahaya, founder of Local Legends Gaming and chief business development officer for Midwest eSports, detailing a coming trip that will see him representing his day job — STEM and eSports — during a convening of professional athletes this Super Bowl weekend in Miami.
The presentation will focus on the intersection between STEM careers and the eSports space, highlighting opportunities for youth play in leagues and regional events run by Midwest eSports, Yahaya said.
“We’re aligning eSports with football on the most important day of any pro player’s season,” he said in anticipation of the once-in-a-lifetime trip.
“This is major. It doesn’t get any bigger than this,” Yahaya said. “Kansas City is sending its No. 1 gaming company and its pro ball team to the Super Bowl!”
Click here to read about Kansas City businesses celebrating the Chiefs historic run.
Additionally, Local Legends — Yahaya’s mobile gaming truck startup — will host a Madden NFL tournament for kids and NFL all-stars, further elevating Kansas City as an emerging eSports hub, Yahaya explained.
“I’m putting Kansas City on everyone in the industry’s radar as a premier eSports resource and no longer just a ‘flyover city,’” he said.
Yahaya closed a Westport brick-and-mortar incarnation of Local Legends after several months of operation in 2019, citing a shift in direction for the startup.
Had such events not transpired as they did, the founder isn’t sure he’d have been on track to achieve a milestone like the Miami trip, he said.
“It’s all in God’s plan. He wouldn’t bring me through anything he didn’t plan to lead me through,” Yahaya said.
Click here to read more about Yahaya’s decision to change directions.
As for the big game itself, there’s no way Kansas City doesn’t bring home the Lombardi trophy, he added.
“My Chiefs are winning 24 to 14,” he predicted.
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
City OKs plan to replace urban farm near Plexpod in Midtown with 100-unit Park 39 apartment project
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by CityScene KC, an online news source focused on Greater Downtown Kansas City. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly CityScene KC email review. The City Plan Commission narrowly endorsed a planned apartment project that would replace the Cultivate KC urban farm in…
Sisters open Lao-Thai kitchen in KC’s Crossroads, but to taste their laab beef, you’ll have to order from the cloud
A sister-led Lao and Thai food restaurant in the Crossroads hopes to deliver an authentic taste of southeast Asian culture to Kansas City. Among its first challenges: picking which family recipes win a spot on the menu. Nang Nang Lao-Thai opened in late February at the Crossroads Food Stop, a “cloud kitchen” with 10 local…
This startup designed roads that pay for themselves (and charge your electric vehicle while driving)
Longtime Kansas City startup Integrated Roadways is earning recognition for the company’s plans to transform roads into “smart roads” by embedding digitally connected technology directly into the pavement — coming soon to Lenexa City Center. Called the smart pavement system, Integrated Roadways’ patented precast concrete pavement slabs provide Internet connection and sensing technology to vehicles driving…
For one night only, KCI’s new terminal became the city’s premier event venue; Here’s how they pulled it off
Transforming an airport terminal into a high-profile, elegant celebration and then back to an airport terminal within 48 hours is no easy feat, Whitney Butler said, but the women-led PlatinumXP team was up for the challenge. “We were creating within a venue that will never be able to be used as an event venue again.…