Team Liquid opens 13-story Alienware Training Facility in Brazil

Team Liquid is opening its next Alienware Training Facility in São Paulo, Brazil. The 13-story, nearly 33,300 square-foot facility will serve the team’s players and staff in one of the largest esports markets globally.

Facilities in São Paulo

Team Liquid’s new building will serve both its staff and players in the region. The building is equipped with everything the esports organization needs to work, eat and sleep.

For its pro players and talent, The Alienware Training Facility has practice rooms, classroom-style review rooms and streaming pods. To maximize its competitive edge, Team Liquid is investing in its talents’ physical and mental health with its Performance Lab and on-site mental health support.

The esports organization’s staff will also have four floors of office space to serve as Team Liquid’s regional headquarters. This includes ten conference rooms, a fully equipped production studio and editing stations.

The building will also include four floors of apartments that will house both Team Liquid and visiting organizations. There is also a professional kitchen with a full-time chef, restaurant and roof-top deck that will serve the facility. This will cut down travel expenses for the organization. Additionally, the facility will be an attractive option for esports teams that want to bootcamp or compete in the region with all amenities under one roof. The building can house up to four teams at a time.

The massive facility is the esports team’s largest yet — about twice the size of its predecessors. In 2018, Team Liquid opened its first training facility in Los Angeles. In 2020, this was followed up with another Alienware Training Facility in The Netherlands to serve the team’s European staff and players.

Like its sister locations, Alienware serves as both the technology partner and name sponsor for the facility. “At Alienware, we are excited to take another leap forward in our long partnership with Team Liquid by delivering our third state-of-the-art facility to reinforce our commitment to professionalize esports training around the globe,” said João Duarte, marketing director for Dell Technologies in Brazil. Dell Technologies’ IT infrastructure and its high-performance Alienware equipment power the São Paulo location.

Moreover, the ground floor of the building will be Team Liquid’s first-ever physical store. The Fan Zone will also provide opportunities to host events on-site and further build its local fan community, dubbed the Cavalry.

Team Liquid in Brazil

Team Liquid began operating in Brazil in 2018. Currently, there are 80 employees in the country, including pro players and content creators for Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and Fortnite. 90% of these personnel will use the facility daily.

“Brazil is a priority in Team Liquid’s plans, and the new facility is yet another symbol of our investments in local talent and fans,” said Rafael Queiroz, general manager of Team Liquid in Brazil. “The launch of this facility reflects the importance of the country within the organization’s global strategy.”

This expansion was the company’s first into an entirely foreign market. Today’s company is the result of a merger between Team Liquid and Team Curse. Team Liquid founder Victor Goossens and Team Curse founder Steve Arhancet serve as co-CEOs and are Dutch and American respectively.

“The overall facility planning started back in early 2021, but due to the pandemic our actual location scouting only started in late 2021. When we saw this building it immediately clicked, and after making the decision in early 2022 it took 7 months of architecture and project management, and then 5 months of construction to finish the facility,” Queiroz told GamesBeat.

Team Liquid began location scouting in early 2021 and found its new home in São Paulo’s Santa Cecília neighborhood at the beginning of 2022. A spokesperson for the esports organization confirmed the organization signed a ten year lease for the building. After seven months of remodeling and construction, the facility is ready to open its doors.

This new Brazilian location makes Team Liquid uniquely global compared to other esports organizations. In addition to its shared North American and European roots, it is the only esports organization with offices on three continents.

Several esports organizations have turned to expanding into international markets to grow their footprint. However, building fandom across cultures is difficult and takes time. The ongoing esports winter has disrupted many of these efforts. Building this facility shows Team Liquid’s dedication to growing its Brazilian fanbase and the region’s importance to its long-term strategy.