Bringing Esports to Basketball: The Making of eFIBA Season 3

Bringing Esports to Basketball: The Making of eFIBA Season 3

My name is Renārs Dzintars, and I was the Senior Project Manager for eFIBA Season 3.
A little about myself: I’ve been part of the esports world for around 15 years. I started out as a semi-professional player in a game called Dota 2. At 18, I began doing video game commentary, and by 24, I was teaching esports to kids across Latvia. Now, at 28, I’ve had the opportunity to manage the biggest project of my life.

eFIBA Season 3 was a major challenge. We had 62 countries participating—about a third of the world. A mix of cultures, a mix of time zones, all connected by a shared passion for esports. Goexanimo played a crucial role in this: managing the event, running the competition, ensuring a high-quality broadcast, and creating engaging content for social media.

Custom Formats and Technical Tests

The start of the season was exciting, as we had to develop the competition format. Each region had a different number of participating teams, which meant that some regions could share the same format, while others required custom solutions. Coming from the esports world, the Goexanimo team and I decided to implement the Swiss system format, which has been widely used in other esports titles. This format gives meaning to every single game—unlike the traditional group stage followed by playoffs, which has started to feel a bit stale in the esports scene.
Fortunately, FIBA introduced a key innovation: pre-qualifiers. These served multiple purposes:
✅ Assessing competitiveness – We got an early glimpse of standout teams.
✅ Technical testing – Ensured a flawless setup for the Regional Qualifiers.
✅ Format validation – Allowed us to refine structures based on real participation numbers.

Overcoming Technical Challenges & Elevating the Broadcast

With our prior experience running NBA 2K esports tournaments, we were familiar with the intricacies of esports broadcasting. However, online competitions always bring unexpected hurdles, such as connectivity issues. To mitigate risks, we implemented multiple fail-safes, ensuring that if a stream dropped or an issue arose, the show would go on seamlessly. As a project manager, this was my biggest fear - something out of my control ruining the experience for players and viewers. Luckily, my team dealt with the issues that arose rather quickly.

FIBA also secured an exceptional esports talent lineup to elevate the viewing experience. Vince Chang, Chris Simpson, Zunaid Suleman, and Renārs Šēnfelds brought energy, expertise, and representation from diverse regions, making the broadcast engaging and dynamic.

Since our esports production team is based in Riga, Latvia, covering North American esports matches overnight was no small feat. Yet, the talent team’s dedication made all the difference—they kept the energy high before, during, and after the broadcasts, ensuring an exciting experience for viewers worldwide.

Bringing eFIBA to Life in the Philippines

After the Regional Qualifiers, Goexanimo had the incredible opportunity to attend and oversee the live esports event. Our responsibilities included:
✅ Ensuring broadcast quality – Overseeing the local production team to maintain our standards.
✅ Social media coverage for esports – Capturing and sharing the event’s biggest moments in real time.
✅ Esports competition management – Ensuring smooth tournament operations.
✅ Esports content creation – Gathering materials for the official after-movie.

This was my first time traveling to a different continent, so I was understandably excited. Together with four other colleagues, we embarked on a 28-hour journey with two layovers. Once we arrived, the people's hospitality was unmatched. I have had my share of experiences with generous hosts, but this caught me off guard. They welcomed us right as we got off the airplane, right by the gates, and gave us a gift of their country—a necklace created from the vulcanic minerals.

Working with them was rather easy as they always listened and adapted to our vision. There were hiccups and problems, but from my experience, it is impossible to run an esports event without at least one technical issue.

Wrapping Up eFIBA Season 3 & Looking Ahead

With the event concluding just a week before Christmas, we had a brief window to wrap up key tasks before the holiday season. During this time, we:
✅ Posted esports highlights on eFIBA’s social media.
✅ Collected esports event feedback from everyone involved to refine our approach.
✅ Analyzed esports engagement data to assess performance and set benchmarks for future seasons.

At the core of it all, our goal remains the same—making every esports event better than the last. With new insights and a strong foundation, we’re already looking ahead, ensuring that the next edition of eFIBA esports is even more unforgettable and sets new records in esports viewership and social media engagement.

I would like to say a huge thanks to FIBA for choosing to work with us, and especially to the following people:
Albert Huguet - his energy and attention to detail were much needed
Gustavo Arellano - for putting in the long hours to make the event happen
Nicolas Chapart - for late nights and early mornings, he will understand.

Thank you for taking the time to read my behind-the-scenes look at eFIBA Season 3—until next time!