Dear Colleagues, apologies for the cross-posting. I will organize a special track on "eSports and Media Management" at the "2018 Annual Conference of International Media Management Academic Association (IMMAA) Important dates: May 15, 2018 – Deadline for submitting abstracts and panel proposals June 15, 2018 – Notification of abstract or panel proposal acceptance July 15, 2018 – Deadline for reduced fee early-bird registrations August 15, 2018 – Final registration deadline September 13, 14 and 15, 2018 – IMMAA CONFERENCE Location: Stuttgart, Hochschule der Medien (Stuttgart Media University), Germany Purpose: The competitive gaming scene surged in the recent years with tournaments filling the bird's nest in Beijing in 2017, and the League of Legends finals in 2016 attracted nearly 50 million viewers. From a media management perspective, this phenomenon is highly relevant as it targets a young audience. Furthermore, eSports draws them on a global and local level. Companies like ESPN or MTG are investing in eSports. There is a substantial overlap of actors nowadays, be it media companies, sports teams, game developer, and existing eSports teams. Besides, eSports is not a novel phenomenon; eSports is around since the Internet and had the chance to grow on its own. They have a unique way to deal with the media environment. The purpose of this special track is to tackle this interconnection between eSports and media management. What can we learn from eSports and what can eSports learn from traditional media management. It becomes evident that we have to deal with eSports from a scientific perspective as it is still heavily under-researched. Submission guidelines Paper submissions and panel proposals will be judged on the basis of extended abstracts that should be between 5 and 7 pages long (1,500 to 2,500 words) and send to: immaa2018@mw.hdm-stuttgart.de<mailto:immaa2018@mw.hdm-stuttgart.de> On a separate page, submitters should include with their abstracts full name, title, position, affiliation and contact information (including email address and phone number) for all contributing authors. Additional information: I am planning a special issue on the topic, and I am currently looking for a potential journal. The conference will also serve as a discussion about this issue. Furthermore, there will be a panel discussion with representatives from several eSports practitioners. If you have any questions regarding this special track or about eSports in general, please don't hesitate to contact me at tobias.scholz@uni-siegen.de<mailto:tobias.scholz@uni-siegen.de> And if you know a colleague who might be interested, please share this call for papers. Thank you! Best regards, Tobias Scholz _________________________________ Dr. Tobias M. Scholz Assistant Professor University of Siegen Chair for Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior www.pmg.uni-siegen.de<http://www.pmg.uni-siegen.de>