Mayor Richard Parker Interview: West Midlands’ esports ambitions and beyond

When DreamHack and ESL One announced they would arrive in Birmingham in March 2026, much of the esports world looked on in surprise. The UK had long been considered a secondary market for major esports events, with London carrying most of the international spotlight. But in Birmingham – a city of grit, industry, and cultural reinvention – the West Midlands sees an opportunity to position itself, not only as a host of world-class tournaments, but also as the beating heart of a creative economy.

At the centre of this push is Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands. In a roundtable interview hosted by the ESL FACEIT Group, Parker laid out his vision: esports is not just a spectacle, but a bridge between creativity, education, and opportunity. His comments, combined with the region’s wider economic initiatives, shed light on how Birmingham is attempting to define itself in a post-industrial, post-pandemic era.

For Parker, the arrival of DreamHack and ESL One is far more than a calendar entry. “We’ve got a great reputation, and we’re already building a very effective gaming and tech and digital sector here that is globally competitive,” he explained. “I see esports, and this event we’re going to be holding next March in the West Midlands, as being a fantastic way to further attract more investment and promote what we’re doing here in the region.”

Birmingham is no stranger to large-scale cultural events, but Parker stressed that the logic here runs deeper. “It’s going to add a great deal of value to our economy. It’s going to bring more people here, and it’s going to help us promote this place. But also, it’s a really powerful event because acquisition of digital skills is so important for our people, in particular our young people.”

That point – skills – would be a recurring theme in the conversation.

Parker is convinced that esports can be more than entertainment. “Esports is a really effective way of attracting young people into digital and tech and developing skills through gaming,” he said. “I think it will help them build careers here and give them opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

The Mayor sees events like DreamHack Birmingham as touchstones, but he emphasises a broader strategy: to build an ecosystem where passion for gaming translates into employability. “We’ve got a very young region here, it’s a very diverse region, and one of my big priorities is helping our young people get access to opportunities and acquire the skills that will help them get really well-paid jobs.”

His words connect neatly with findings from the ‘Breaking down barriers’ report, which documented the impact of COVID-19 on young people in Birmingham. The research highlighted that while the pandemic did not create new barriers to employment, it amplified existing inequalities – from income gaps to access to technology. For Parker, esports can be a corrective: a way to use cultural capital and enthusiasm to nudge people into skill acquisition they might otherwise miss.

The Mayor’s esports enthusiasm cannot be separated from his wider economic plan. Parker has made creative industries a centrepiece of his growth blueprint – film, TV, music, design, and gaming all wrapped together as the foundation for a modern economy.

Recent months have seen major partnerships: memoranda of understanding with Arts Council England, Historic England, and multiple unions representing creative workers. The BBC has already expanded production in Birmingham, moving flagship shows like MasterChef and Silent Witness into the city’s Digbeth area. Parker points to examples like Peaky Blinders – created by Birmingham’s own Steven Knight – as proof that local culture can translate into international economic value.

“We do things here that they don’t do or currently can’t do,” Parker said, recalling a government mission to China where he found the creative output of the West Midlands was particularly respected. “They have a great interest in and attraction to the things we make here and produce here and our originality, which is fantastic.”

Esports fits into that same pattern: a globally recognised cultural industry that can generate jobs, tourism, and training.

Reports from the region paint a stark picture of youth inequality. Some young people came out of the pandemic relatively unscathed, supported by family income and stability. Others faced homelessness, food bank reliance, and declining mental health. The contrast is widening – the “haves and have-nots” of the city.

One of the most pressing concerns, according to the ‘Breaking down barriers’ study, is mental health. Decreased confidence has directly impacted the ability of young people to find work experience or employment. “Evidence came from both young people themselves and the services who worked with them,” the report notes, underlining how reduced resilience affects career pathways.

For Parker, this makes esports particularly relevant. Gaming offers a gateway: a domain that young people already understand, where their skills are legitimate, and where communities can foster self-belief. Esports is not a cure-all, but it can become a hook to pull disengaged youth back into ambition.

A common issue in British creative sectors is the gravitational pull of London. Talented young people are trained elsewhere, only to migrate south for opportunities. Parker is determined to counteract that trend.

“When HS2 is built, we will be just 48 minutes from London,” he said. “That’s a great opportunity to attract some skills from London here, but also the bigger the sector we can improve here in gaming, in digital technology and its applications, the more businesses we can attract here and locate here, the better our ability to retain the skills we need.”

The argument is not only about opportunity, but about affordability. Rising living costs in the capital are already pushing creatives to look for alternatives. Parker wants Birmingham to be ready to capture that movement. “When I talk to people that have come here to work, they find the West Midlands incredibly affordable, very accessible, and they’ve always been made to feel very welcome,” he said. “My role is to obviously give people the best possible welcome, but also to remove all the barriers that get in the way.”

Parker is careful not to frame this economic drive as being only about big names. The unions agreements, the BBC contracts, and the headline events matter, but so do the smaller enterprises. “Everything we’re doing here, there are two dimensions to it,” he explained. “Whilst I need to attract higher paid jobs here and get help for young people to access them, I also want to ensure there are opportunities for people in all skills and all trades.”

That includes SMEs, freelancers, and grassroots creatives. Bootcamps and training programmes are being set up to help young people transition into employment, with links to larger operators like the BBC or event companies. “We’ve got programmes and training programmes that support them going into business,” Parker said. “We run bootcamps that help people upskill and reskill in those sectors. And we’ve got to put other mechanisms in place that help those people secure fantastic work here.”

When asked about long-term success, Parker does not talk first about GDP or statistics. He speaks about reputation. “I would like the West Midlands to become a global centre of excellence, renowned for its skills and its expertise and the people we’ve got in the sector here,” he said. “So this is a place where people want to come, not just to invest in esports and run events, but also the best place to access the talent and the skills you need to drive your business forward.”

It is an ambition that aligns with new government funding, including a £25m allocation from the Creative Places Growth Fund, earmarked for Birmingham and other high-growth regions. The goal is not simply to host events like DreamHack, but to use them as anchors for an entire ecosystem – one where esports, film, music, and design intersect, producing opportunities for a generation of young people that need them most.

In Parker’s words, it is about building “an economy that works for everyone and offers opportunity to everyone.” For Birmingham, March 2026 will be more than a spectacle of gaming – it will be a statement about what the city, and the wider West Midlands, wants to become.