ST. LOUIS — If you walked into Ballpark Village blindfolded this weekend, you'd probably think the Blues or Cardinals were playing. Sportscasters are calling the games, fans are cheering and at the end of the period one team wins, the other loses...but it's not regular sports it's esports.
The second Gateway Legends tournament kicked off Friday morning with eight collegiate teams and eight high school teams squaring off for a $10,000 prize. That's $10,000 for the high school champions and $10,000 for the collegiate champions.
League of Legends games stream live on the monitors throughout Ballpark Village throughout the three-day bracket battle.
If you've never played or watched League of Legends, Jessica Fox the Vice Chair of Fair St. Louis described it for us.
"The simplest way I can describe it is like playing capture the flag with a video game," Fox said.
Fair Saint Louis puts on the tournament. Gamers will share the stage at Ballpark Village with the fair's musical acts.
"We've set the three days up with over 22 acts that are going to play throughout the weekend," said Tim Meers, Fair St. Louis General Chairman.
All performances will be spread throughout Kiener Plaza and Ballpark Village. Meers said Kiener Plaza is proving to be a fun change of venue for the fair.
"It's new to us and we're really excited about this new footprint because it offers a lot of different things that we weren't able to do on the Arch grounds," Meers said.
People will notice more stages, more food trucks, more vendors...but not more firework days. Meers said there is a reason for that.
"So this year what we decided to do was put it all on one day. We're going to have the largest and most fantastic firework show we've had in our 41-year history," Meers said.