This weekend’s big sporting event at PNC Arena is all monitors, headsets and controllers

Cheers erupt at a major play, lights flash red and fog machines render the atmosphere in the PNC Arena hazy.

Typically packed with cheering basketball and hockey fans or concert-goers, this weekend, the seats of the arena are instead filled by video game enthusiasts. The attraction? Professional video game players from around the globe competing live in “Apex Legends.”

The court area — normally shiny with wax, ice or set up for thousands of singing fans — now hosts two long rows of cubicles that contain three players each and plenty of monitors, cameras, headsets and controllers. Three giant screens hang from the ceiling, showing spectators what the players see, and a pair of commentators on the ground offer play-by-play.

Electronic Arts — the video game company behind popular gaming franchises such as “Need for Speed,” “The Sims” and EA Sports — has partnered with PNC to host its second Apex Legends Global Series Championship through Sunday.

“Apex Legends” is a free-to-play, battle royale in which three-person squads fight for survival.

It is the first time the ALGS Championship will have a live audience, and thousands more are expected to stream the event from home.

‘Really, really special’

“The Apex community, which is a very, very tight-knit, very positive community, has been all virtual with each other” for the two years since the game launched because of the pandemic, said Joe Lynch, head of programming and content at EA. “The opportunity to be not only together with the players, but also with the fans, and to see the fans interacting with their favorite players — with the lights of TSM and Cloud9 and Fanatic and these players from all over the world — is really, really special.”

Forty teams from five regions are set to facing off, all gunning for a prize pool of $2 million. The winning team will emerge as the global champion after a year of Apex Legends Global Series competition.

The Global Series featured thousands of teams and players from more than 75 different countries and territories, all competing in smaller tournaments in the hope of winning enough points to qualify to the elite level.

“It is, without question, the best of the best competing that have proven themselves all year, and they’re competing together in one space with fans for the first time,” Lynch said.

Most teams at the championship are signed by larger organizations. But many who first start out in competition are simply “three phenomenal players from all corners of the globe” eventually hoping to get picked up, Lynch said.

A global event

EA expects thousands of spectators to attend the event live. And the number of fans who tune in from home could hit hundreds of thousands, according to spokesperson Casey Tamkin.

That’s because while EA has one broadcast, streamers from all over the world cast and comment on the event on their own platforms to their own followers, Lynch said.

“The numbers are so dramatic because of the democratization of the content and the way in which people can access it,” he added. “It’s very unique to esports.”

Esports is also distinct as a spectator event, Lynch said. Fans are playing the same game as professional players, and could even wind up in the same game lobby and compete against them.

“It’s that aspirational sense that, ‘I could be there,’” he said, as opposed to watching the NFL, where “there’s no, ‘I’m gonna go play linebacker for the Patriots.’”

Players at home also watch streamers and professional players to improve their own game. “They want to watch the best players in the world compete and learn what they do,” Lynch said.

Attending live

Maxwell Johnson, 19, and Harlan Gatewood, 22, flew in from Tennessee together to attend the Raleigh championship. They met two years ago playing “Apex Legends,” and have played almost every day since.

Both follow the careers and lives of several professional players they watch, keeping up with them the way many do their favorite sports stars.

“We’ve been watching esports not just passively,” Johnson said, “but the way a lot of people watch football.”

Evan Verhulst, who competes for TSM, is Johnson’s favorite player.

“It’s hard to be as good as he is,” Johnson said. “It’s really satisfying to watch because he just has a play style and a humble personality that makes me want to be better at the game and better at a lot of things in my life.”

Peilin Chen, 24, started playing “Apex Legends” after watching her boyfriend play. When they had to maintain their relationship while living long-distance from each other, they turned to the game to help stay connected.

“We just love to watch the gaming competitions and analyze all the decision-making [of the players], the fighting and what kind of mistakes they make,” she said.

About the tournament

The championship began Thursday, with teams playing through a double-elimination bracket Friday and Saturday. The top 20 teams will advance to the finals on Sunday for their shot at the championship title.

The event begins at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and the finals launch at 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, starting at $15 for single day admission. You can also stream the event from Twitch and YouTube.