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From Franchisee to Franchisor: Morris Jackson’s Game-Changing Leadership Journey.

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What if youth esports had the same structure, safety, and upward path as Little League or AAU? We sit down with Valhallan Esports’ Morris Jackson to unpack how he went from owning a single arena to acquiring the entire brand and relocating HQ to Las Vegas—transforming a scattered scene into a true pipeline for kids, parents, schools, and colleges. From 23 locations across 12 states to an online platform that removes geography as a barrier, Morris lays out a plan to make Valhallan a destination where young gamers train, compete, and grow with purpose.

We get practical about what parents really want to know: how to keep kids safe, how to make gaming productive, and how to navigate a space that now includes scholarships and academic tracks. Morris connects specific games to real skills—Rainbow Six Siege to cybersecurity, Minecraft to engineering and systems thinking—and explains how monitored communities, age tiers, and coaching turn screen time into skill time. We also explore how colleges like Boise State and Syracuse are investing, why UNLV’s Cyber Week matters, and how scholarships are expanding fast.

Las Vegas emerges as the perfect hub: HyperX Arena, global access, and a city that embraces innovation. Morris shares why Valhallan is moving to a corporate‑led model for consistency and quality, how online demand will guide future arena placements, and why this youth‑first focus can capture meaningful share in a $500B ecosystem. He closes with candid, hard‑won advice for entrepreneurs about stretching beyond comfort zones and refusing to let fear set the limits. If you care about kids, education, esports, or building a brand with real community impact, this conversation will stick.

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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts, Pocky and Chris. We are people who are passionate about business, success, and culture. And this is our platform to showcase people in our city who are making it happen. And on today's guests is just that, man. We're welcoming back to the circle a second time. This is who I want to grow up to be, man. When I become an older man, man, this is what I want to grow up to be, man. No, no, no, no. We've we peers, man. But we're gonna get into it, man. So he's gone from owning one uh Bahaland franchise to now owning 20 franchises. We're gonna get into his story. So holding strong got multiple locations. He's bringing gamings to schools, what we were talking about, moving his headquarters to Vegas and planning a national tour building hotels nationwide. So welcome back to the circle, businessman and owner of Vihaland Esports, Mr. Morris Jackson. Thank you. Good to see you guys, man. Good to see you guys. Thank you. So let's jump in, man. So we had you about two years ago. They've got your story, but Vahaland at the time, I think you guys had you and your business partner at the time, I think you guys had one franchise. You might have been buying your second one.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, spot on. No, so Brandon and I, Brandon Parker, who now plays for the Atlanta Falcons. Back then he played for the Raiders. Yep. Him and I identified this little business called Vahalin Esports Training. And as you know, it's it's a platform where we help young gamers between the age five and 17 find their pathway through esports. Just like how if you wanted to learn how to play baseball, you go to Little League. If you want basketball, you go to AAU. Well, there was nothing there for young gamers who are at home loving the game, Valorant, League of Legends, Fortnite, Rocket League, but they wanted to compete competitively. There was no space out there to help help them kind of bridge to that professional pathway. So we found this great business called Valhalla Sports Training. Fell in love with the idea of what we can do for young gamers, specifically here in the city of Las Vegas. Opened our first location. Matter of fact, again, like you mentioned, at that time, we were opening our opening our second one in Cornelius, North Carolina. That's where Brandon is from. Him and his wife, Dominique, are from North Carolina. So we were we were just about closing on that transaction. Over the last year and a half, a lot has changed. Not only have we opened our third location in Folsom, California, which is near Sacramento. But again, everyone knows Folsom from uh Johnny, Johnny Cash. Oh, yeah, I know that name, but I didn't know what it was from. Okay. Okay. So uh we we purchased that location, got that one up and running. And then during that year, we were really exploring the possible possibilities of just owning the whole company. Powerful. Yeah, the owner at the time, you know, he, you know, there wasn't and he he believed in esports, but there wasn't an affinity for esports. Right. We had an affinity for it. He's he saw not only what we were building, how we were building it, what we were doing in the communities, how we were promoting it in the communities. And so over the last year, we've been negotiating on just acquiring the entire company, moving from franchisee to franchiseor. And luckily for me, during that year, I built some amazing relationships with a few new partners that are on the team now. One is my partner, Brian Hanula. He's a sports agent in the NFL. He saw what we were doing with these sports. He was he followed us early on with Fahallen and said, Hey, if I if you ever have a chance to let me in on this, let me in. That's why when we had the chance to negotiate this deal, I said, Hey, here's your window. He jumped right in on it, did a masterful job help helping us negotiate this deal. But then I also had the opportunity to bring on two additional, actually, three additional partners. One's a high-tech senior engineer who can cut who's coming in and helping us build out our tech stack to do some amazing things in the future. Another partner is an amazing chief strategy officer out of Denver, Colorado, or Broomsville, Colorado, who's helping us as well. And then a third owner, or the last owner, he runs our location out in Camp Hill, one of our most successful Valhallon franchise owners. I found it was important for us to bring someone who understood the culture, understood what it what it takes to build a successful franchise, to teach all the other franchise owners how to follow that path. His name is Andrew. And so between now, myself, Brian, Mike, Wayne, Andrew, the five of us, we're we're we're now on the journey to growing this to be not just a destination for all. Well, not only growing this to be a platform for all gamers, we're growing this to become a destination for all gamers. So when they're looking to find that competitive landscape, we want them to look, think, and connect with Valhalla for that. So yeah, that's where we're at now. So now 23 locations across the US and 12 states. So a lot. I mean, it's been nine weeks since we've acquired it. And so this is fresh. This is fresh. Yeah. I didn't realize it was nine weeks. Yeah, it's only been nine weeks. And so still all fairly new, but very exciting. A lot of work ahead of us. But again, we we we're in we're in this industry because we believe in where it's going and what it can do for the young gamer and their journey to become a professional.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you know, we kind of the one thing is to me, obviously, I'm a huge esports fan in general. So I'm definitely very passionate about what you bring to the table. Would love my kids to be a part of it. I think it's a great, you know, we talked about our last podcast, you know, the developmental and a lot of the benefits you get from a personality standpoint. But from the business aspect of it, when you go from being kind of a franchisee, right? You're developing your own first location, your second location, your third. Is it it seems like to me a very different dynamic to now you're in charge of other franchisees, right? Now you're owning the brand, you're in charge of marketing, you're in charge of all these different aspects that maybe you've not done there. Did you have any experience like in that, or is it kind of something you're learning as you go now? Because it seems like be a very different model.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, great question. I mean, there's certain things that I've had experience in. I mean, thankfully, because of my history in the financial services industry and me being able to lead several banks through acquisitions and transitions and growth models, I've been able to take a lot of that experience and apply it here. Again, not everything's as apples for apples, right? But the one thing that I've learned that you requires is it's creativity, hard work, knowing how to use your resources, identifying your networks, the people in your network to help you grow and scale. But yeah, to your point, like for you know, going from a place where we looked at the franchise or when I was a franchisee as the platform to provide us with marketing strategies, provide us with uh coaching strategies, our deliverables in the market. And now we're in the seat where we're creating all of that, which honestly is more exciting. So now we're we're the we're we're we're the we're the artist painting this masterpiece now. So this is this is allowing us to obviously capitalize on the things that we saw worked extremely well being in the franchisee position, but then also identifying the things that we've recognized that is was still needed to help us accelerate scale in this new space. That was one of the reasons why we took this over, is because we saw there was so many things left to be done, so many things that needed to be built, so many things that not just kids, young gamers are you look are that that young gamers are looking for, but we were looking, but there's things that parents are looking for that we needed to really start it to answer for. So that's where, again, we saw this amazing opportunity to take this over and use not just you know my background and expertise, but Brian's background, Wayne's background, Mike's tech background, and Andrew's franchise ownership background and say, okay, how do we blend all of these together to provide not just other franchisees, but also the members, the kids, the parents, the right type of product to really help them see the magnificent impact of esports? Because there's so much out there that this industry is doing for our kids.

SPEAKER_03:

And there's a bunch of how do you one make those franchises that were, you know, there under prior ownership group now, because you know, you buy into a franchise, you're buying into the people, the corporation, the company, a lot of that aspect of it. But you know, bringing in a new company, does it, you know, is there some initial turbulence that people start thinking, like, what's going on here? Like, how do how do you appease them? Because obviously you've done a great job already in nine weeks, putting together an amazing team, but you just said I'm sure the future is bright, but you know, I'm sure there are going to be some like a lot of uncertainty because they're in contracts, right? They're in uh stipulations that are background to that. Like, how do you navigate those waters a little bit?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you know, anytime there's change, right? There's always going to be, you know, different cycles people go through, right? Um, I think the great thing is that because of, I think there's two things, right? One, us being franchise owners ourselves and being frank being in the franchisee position. I think that's helpful. A little bit was behind the curtain. Yeah, exactly. And I think they appreciated that a little bit versus it being some independent outside group that they're not familiar with. And so now all of a sudden it lends the question do they really understand what's going on, what we need, how to grow these things? Because we owned our own locations ourselves and we've been through that journey. It gives the franchisees the opportunity to see that there are people who are leading this that are in the same position they are. You've been boots on the ground. Yeah, we've been boots. Yeah, exactly. Boots on the ground. And it's not like we've been boots on the ground for a few months. Like these, it's been a year and a half. We've been on the ground.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember going to your grand opening. It feels like that was yesterday. Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_00:

And so them being able to see that is helpful. Secondly, me us building a team that not only exists of one franchise, existing franchisee owner, but exists of three, again, instills more confidence. Sure. And then one of the owners being one of the most highly successful owners within our ecosystem also helps the narrative too. Yeah, that makes sense. Because they were already calling him as a resource. Um, I remember when I opened my location, he was the first person I called, right? Every his everyone knew when you needed something, call Andrew. Yeah, he was everyone's godfather, right? Like call him, yeah, get what you need. And he was, and he's he was always that beacon of hope for everyone. And now he's in a position of ownership, again, just to steal confidence. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still things that they're, you know, a lot of our franchise owners are still waiting to see. And we got to continue to provide. But we've done some things recently and have a lot of things on our roadmap to really provide every single owner with what they need to ultimately be successful in their individual market. So really out national, out local the nationals and out national the locals is our strategy. Gotcha. Right? Being able to position every single local location in a way where everyone will know who they are while at the same time not being so big where it's isolating the local markets. We want to make certain everyone feels not only invited when they come into a location, but understands the enormity of all this as well. And so us being able to bring bring those type of strategies and ideas, and we still want to hear from our franchisees to embody what they want to see in their markets. And so they're if everyone's voice is heard, which is good. But again, it's still the honeymoon period, right? There's a lot of changes. But I think as long as we keep our franchises first, actually, we keep our members first and when and keeping our franchise in mind with everything that we do, I think we're going to position every franchisee for success.

SPEAKER_01:

So I love the fact that Vegas is but we got so many varieties, not just a service and hospitality industry. So your plan is to move the headquarters from Texas to Las Vegas. Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I mean, obviously, Vegas brings a lot of advantages. I mean, so does Texas as well. So no knock on Texas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Where are they based at, right in Texas now?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, they were based in Pearlin, Texas. Okay, I don't even know what that is. Yeah, neither do I. Okay. That's how you a lot. That's how you a lot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it, you know, it it give it gave us the opportunity to one, Vegas is already becoming a a, I would say, a prominent they they their the their approach to embracing esports is already here. Yeah, right. We have HyperX Arena, which is like the one at Luxor. Which is like the allegiance stadium to the Raiders. It's is that to an esports gamer, right? We have Global Gaming League who's coming into town. Yes, yep, right. And then we had the city that named, I think it's October 1st, is East is an official esports holiday. Oh, that's pretty cool. I didn't know that's a lot of things. Jeez, Hyro, Inferno. He was on the pod. Yeah. Hyro was on the pod. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Vegas Inferno, yeah. Vegas Inferno. Shout out to him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And then on top of that, to your point right there, right? We already have a professional esports team in Vegas. Really good team, too, by the way. Yeah. So I mean, there were all these things, all these narratives that we had in Vegas that we really wanted to stand up. Plus, this is an easier destination for all of our owners to get to because we have you know an owner in California, an owner in Colorado. So being able to make Vegas to home destination. And then again, when you think of us, you know, doing tournaments and challenges. I mean, everyone looks for an excuse to come to Vegas all the time. Now, if I told you we were hosting a tournament in Pearlin, Texas, it's kind of like it's not exciting. Not really, yeah. It doesn't have that same thunder, right? Vegas has that thunder that that we were looking for to really drive that narrative. But again, making Vegas, you know, showing how Vegas is business friendly. Vegas is is is a place where all businesses should look at, hang in their headquarters, gives us a great opportunity to do that. And plus Vegas is home for us. Yeah. For a lot of us who who either have it's from here or have been from here, we just understand the Vegas market. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Talk a little bit about like this is a$500 billion with a B industry. I didn't realize it was that big. I mean, I know Chris knows because he knows gaming and I. Yeah, I make like 40 bucks. You say you make 40 bucks a piece. But the piece for you guys is really to scale, you know, Bahaland's space in this, man. What is what's the vision behind that as far as where you guys will be in this in this piece of the pie of the 500 billion?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we just want like literally like a half a percent of that.

SPEAKER_01:

That would work.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I mean, our space is, I mean, again, the whole entire ecosystem has a global market cap of 500 billion. Okay. We really want to carve out that youth segment where everyone else is focusing on the professional gamer, the prof they're focusing on the sponsorship piece, the pro team piece, you know, even the collegiate side. We want to focus on all those that are trying to get there. So really talk, you know, really. And you think about how in every sport that you know we dominate in domestically, whether it's baseball, football, basketball, we all know it starts from the youth, right? How you know, don't get me wrong, you have your anomalies out there, you have your individuals that you know just picked up the game, their senior year of high school. Yeah, and it just it just trained. But most players, if you know, who who who dominate the game always goes back and they'll they'll tell you how hard they worked since they were a kid, and how while they were kids and and they're growing up during their youth years, how they got to that level of a professional, right? Sometimes they learn how to be a professional at the ripe age of 13 before they, you know, that's when they learn how to be a professional. So understanding what goes into building that foundation is critical. And right now, I mean, and you think about it, even those kids who were the anomaly who made it at that age, they typically had a support system behind them, whether it's mom, dad, or family members. But again, in this in this world of esports, you don't really have that foundation. Matter of fact, you're fighting more with your parents to play versus them leaning into it. You don't I agree with that's what I'm having, it happens at my house.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

And so, you know, not having that community to lean into, not having available resources at your exposure, and not having places for young gamers to go, clearly there needed to be a space, and we're looking to serve that space. This space can address more than, you know, I the addressable market here is well above a billion. However, again, we know we, you know, we're not gonna be the right fit for everyone, right? So, but at the same time, with this being a destination for gamers, we will be seen as a place where profession well, young kids who want to be a professional, whether it's in the field of esports or if it comes from a career that's influenced by esports, we want to become that destination for them. But not just for the kids, for the parents too, right? Parents are looking for, you know, they have questions. They want to understand, you know, how to help their kids grow in this industry, what careers come with it, which colleges are offering full rise scholarships, which colleges now are giving an esports degree. There's all these questions that are in the parent's mind, but where do they go get the answers? I mean, Google's always a good way to go. I mean, chat become is becoming a good place to go, right? But really, it's that relation, the people you trust that you get the best advice from. We want to become that trusted advisor, not only for the youth, but also for the parents as well.

SPEAKER_03:

And you're gonna bring a good point, though, because I know last time we talked, there are a lot of esports in college was kind of relatively getting newer and newer. It's like, but now it has become more mainstream. Are you starting to see like nationally more of colleges are offering those full right scholarships for esports? Yeah, it's like 100% now, or what's kind of yeah, what's the integration next? I know it's one thing definitely for me. I wish I could go back, but that's not something I have my favorite now.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, definitely not 100%, not not 100% of the colleges as of yet, but more and more colleges are converting their esports clubs into in the and and now converting them into sanctioned teams by the university. So you are seeing that happen more and more. Matter of fact, Boise State just made a sizable investment into their esports team. Syracuse University just built out their huge esports arena. That's awesome. So you're starting to see these major universities come to the table because they're beginning to recognize that not only are these premier athletes, but these are also your premier, I would say, future career makers, right? And industry leaders and entrepreneurs, right? And so they're recognizing that these players are more than just athletes. They are professionals in the field of esports and professionals tied to careers that are influenced by esports. But to your point, more and more universities are starting to add on or add a program or add scholarships to their universities. I think when I first started, there were probably over a little hundred, over, probably a little over 150 schools that had a full ride scholarship to esports. Now, when I go back and look at it, there's well over 350 colleges that are offering full ride scholarships. So UNLV do that?

SPEAKER_03:

Huh? Does UNLV do that? Not yet. UNLV didn't get on that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We're working on it though. I mean, UNLV is becoming a fast adopter of it, though. Matter of fact, on October 4th, we're actually hosting a tournament at UNLV.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a national tournament you were talking about.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, that's no, that's that's a little different. Oh, that's next year, absolutely. That's next year. Yeah, you're good. No, but October 4th, we're actually hosting a tournament at UNLV. So UNLV is doing something on October 1st through the 4th called Cyber Week.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and so they're having a whole festival on cybersecurity to really start to introduce uh and share with the community about the amazing university they built there around to teach kids who are looking to come into school around cybersecurity.

SPEAKER_01:

Because as you that's novel, because they need, yeah, they need that.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, with technology, where it's at today, you know, you you need we need more younger, and I would say this younger generation as what we call ethical hackers to help us prevent from cyber attacks. Yeah. So they're they're really looking, and UNLV has probably one of the best universities for cybersecurity across the nation. Okay. And so we're really looking to stand up that university during that week. But a university department lead came to me and said, Hey, I want to finalize this week with an esports tournament. And so help me find a game that really teaches young gamers around cybersecurity and how it transfers into a cybersecurity degree. And funny enough, the game Rainbow Six Seeds.

SPEAKER_03:

That's the first one I thought about when you were uh what that is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's a lot of there are a lot of skills that a gamer learns in that game that's transferable to cybersecurity. And so we took that game, we're building a tournament around that game. UNLV with some key sponsors in the community is going to back it with the scholarship as well. So the winning team is gonna walk away with scholarship money that they can they can apply to the university. But again, is that that's like the early stages of the university kind of picking up and going, okay, there's something here with eSports.

SPEAKER_01:

And they're investing when you put money behind it, they're investing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're investing into it, and they're seeing the how esports become a bridge between direct correlation between computer skills and uh video games.

SPEAKER_03:

Like most video gamers love to be on a computer, like it's kind of just natural.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly, right? And so, and you think about it, right? This isn't the first time we've used video games to build skills. I mean, you think about how astronauts learn how to fly out, you know, into you know, onto the moon or out of space, it's all through simulators. How does a pilot learn how to fly early on through a flight simulator? Yeah, right. So simulators have always been a part, so technically gaming has always been a part of someone's development, someone's growth, someone's progress. It's just now this technology is so advanced, it's now pushed into games. So games like Valorant, League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, you play these games, you're actually learning critical life skills that transfer, and those skills are transferable into real life industries, such as Siege, a lot of skills that transfers over to cybersecurity. So it's it's like now, but now it's helping parents and helping kids see that correlation, see that.

SPEAKER_01:

So you're not just playing, which I'm telling my kids, stop playing. Chris is telling me to have them play, right? But the truth of the matter is look, you're really learning something. Correct. If you're doing it right, yeah. If you're doing it right, doing it right. But the games you were talking about, you were you said something completely different. You're talking about specific games that are helping that foundation, which is powerful.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and Chris is right, you got to do it right. And today, a lot of kids who play independently in isolation or online in the wrong community, they're not learning the right way. And I'm hearing all the BS, the chat, the yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's no different when we played basketball when we were kids, right? When we were kids and we were at the park, depending which park you went to, and there's no rules or trip. There were different rules of basketball depending on the court you went to, right? But then when you went to high school, depending on what court you played at in the rec, can those skills transfer over? Because I remember when I played basketball in the rec park that I played in, it was physical. And there were no fouls. And so when I went and played played school ball and they call fouls and everything, I hated basketball. Like I'm not playing. That's why I went to football. Yeah. Because I needed to be more, I wanted the physical side of it. Yeah, I might like I didn't even, I breathed on you, and you're calling a foul, right? So again, but that's the same thing in esports. So kids are learning in isolation and independence or in communities online where they aren't identifying those skills that really transfers over into a professional, I would say, either professional careers or in the professional scene of esports. That's what we do in our arenas, our training centers.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I'm gonna be honest with you, man. Like, I'm I'm always fighting with my kids about gaming. No, Chris literally is telling me all the time, like, you gotta do it right.

SPEAKER_03:

I also said to my daughter the other day, she's playing a video game, and it's an economy-based game. So I'm using that as an opportunity to teach about economics. Yeah. Like, right? So we're talking through how this translates to world world economics.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a very good point.

SPEAKER_01:

Lean into it. So the point of the matter is, man, parents, you need to listen to what this man's saying and get your kids in, but how and this is not a sales pick, this is literally it's a foundation. And also to the point we were talking about recently is Clark County School District, right? You're trying to not not that it's a play, but you've got into the Clark County School District. Can you kind of explain what that's all about, that relationship?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. So recently we've been able to build partnerships and relationships with the school district. The school district does an amazing job every year, and they host what they call a science technology festival. Okay. So they bring in all the parents who believe in STEM, want to learn more about STEM, which is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Um, you can also throw arts in there as well. Okay. But they, you know, they meet every year at the World Market Center, and it really showcases all the different activities the school districts will bring to the table to help their kids accelerate in the STEM program. So we've been a part of that program now for two years. And because of that, we've been able to make relationships with a lot of the teachers and the faculties and the administration here in Las Vegas. So we've partnered with high schools where we've helped them deliver workforce development programs to teach kids not just how to play in an esports tournament, but also how to create their own esports tournament. So this was cool. We went to a high school and we taught a six-week course on how to create and run an esports tournament. It was student created, student-led, student executed. We only were expecting maybe a few teams to sign up for the tournament. So it was a six-week course. At the end of the course, we were going the end, the guess the capstone project at the very end of the course was for them to host their own school esports tournament. Again, we were only expecting maybe a few teams to play, maybe a couple, you know, maybe 50, 60 kids show up for the actual tournament. What was amazing is that we had over 80 teams sign up for the high school to compete in that tournament. And this was a duo. So if it was 80 team, that's 160 kids. Then we had probably well over 300 kids show up to watch the tournament. And it was in the school library. I kid you not, that library hasn't seen that many kids in the last five years.

SPEAKER_01:

You bring on such a good point, right? Like I'm seeing it with my boys, right? They play sports, they do piano, but they're always recruiting when they're getting different people's numbers to recruit them so they can all game together online. And I'm always trying to figure out. Like, we had a game yesterday, and my son's like, hey, dad, can you can I give him my number? They were recruiting them to get in their group to play.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they don't text them, they don't call them, it's just like they get their uh gamers.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the news. Well, it's it's what I call it's the new third space, right? When we were kids, our third space was outside. Because your parents didn't want you in the house. No, they didn't house. And we we we didn't want to be in the house. We wanted to be outside as late as possible. I'm pretty sure we all had a rule we had to be on before the lights, right? So um, but now these kids like you gotta force them to go outside. It's scary outside nowadays, yeah. It is scary outside, right? And but but you think about it, their third space now where they're meeting up with other kids is this digital world.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's a little safer, a little bit safer.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, if it's not monitored, it can be dangerous. Just but so was the park. I remember when I was a kid, I mean, I don't don't I mean, I'm pretty sure we all saw certain things at the park that mom and dad didn't really want to want to see. Right. But again, if if if you're at the park and you're and you're with people responsible to take care of you, the park was safe. If you are at the park by yourself, you you could be exposed to things that may not be healthy for you as a kid. Well, that well, that's the same way in this online space. If you are, if you allow your kids to play online and if you do it where it's monitored, then you can create a safe space for them. And that's what we do with Vahalin. We create this safe space because we only allow kids within that age community to compete against each other. We don't allow outside communities to come in. Yeah, but if you allow your kids to play at home and play online, then you do run the risk of inviting the online community to your child. And so there is always a risk that you can get the wrong type of foot traffic coming into their lobbies, and then all of a sudden now they're not playing with with Chris, who's a friend, they're playing with Chris who's 75 years old, you know, online for another reason. But again, it was no reason it's no different from when I was a kid and you go out to the park, there was Chris as a friend, but there was Chris who was 75 years old who was at the park for a different reason, right? So it's just it the com the the narrative's the same, but the communities are different.

SPEAKER_03:

This is great important to educate the parents because they talk pocky, you know, not to probably, but like I like I know all my kids gamer tags, right? All their friends. Like I know this person is this person, this person is this person.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like auditing your whole thing who your kids are hanging out with, or your phone numbers in your phone, right?

SPEAKER_03:

It's kind of like, and I think most parents don't feel confident enough to get into that virtual world and that environment to be able to understand that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and you're and you're absolutely right. Parents, because they don't understand, they don't know what to look for, and because they don't know what to look for, the easiest answer they can give is get off the games. Yeah. Which is me. That's what I'm saying. There's literally what I'm saying. Because they don't understand because you because we don't understand, right? You're right, you're right. But it's just like it's just like when I played football, when I first played, my mom didn't understand football. What she saw was a violent sport. She saw me physically either hitting someone and hurting them or me potentially getting hurt. It wasn't until she learned and understood football where she realized, no, this was good for him. But it took her a while to understand that. That's what we're hoping to do for parents, right? That's great. The reason why we have Valhalla is to help parents understand how to understand this new space. So even when a parent signs up their kid for Valhalla, it is an opportunity for us to, you know, for us to be there to make certain kids are learning, they're growing, they're developing, they're progressing. Just like how you would sign a kid up for a karate, right? You I mean, obviously they're learning technique to be protect themselves, right? Respect, a lot of different things. Yeah. But think about this. If they learn karate online without a sensei, and because because they can learn the same moves online without without someone mentoring them and supporting them, they can learn that same move. That's a that's a move to help defend and protect themselves, but they can learn it to attack someone too, and be on the offense. And again, if you if you if you if you understand the art of karate, is you're you're you're a weapon, but but the reason why you're a weapon is Not to ever use your weapon.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. It's you, you're just there to, in the event you need to protect yourself, you know how to. It's not meant to be used to go attack someone, right? But again, people can learn it and then all of a sudden to be on the attack and then use it for bad, not good. So that's the reason why you have a sensei. That's the reason why you go to a dojo. That's the reason why you learn the principles and learn everything around it. Well, that's the reason why I like to I like to compare our Valhalla training centers as more of a dojo or or or a training studio than a place to play video games. Like you're learning principle, ground rules, you're learning teamwork, collaboration, you're learning, you're learning comp cognitive skills, comprehensive skills, problem solving. Yeah, there's tons of layers that again, all parents want their kids to learn in any sport you play. Well, that all exists in esports too.

SPEAKER_01:

Plus, wild is now people can make a career out of that. Yeah. That's what's tripping me out. Like Hyro, we had he's made a full career out of this. He makes money and branding deals and teaching and doing. So that's the powerful thing is you've got this foundation now of different things that are probably not gonna go up the wayside with all these AI and stuff. It seems like this is the future of jobs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I always tell parents, your kids are learning, and I'll tell this to you if you don't have your kids lean into gaming, you are you don't have a choice. Well, yeah, they love it. You're losing, they're losing the skills for tomorrow. Yes. So, and so if you want your kids to know and learn the skills for tomorrow, it's lean into gaming too. I agree. Because if you think about it, like Minecraft isn't just them out there, you know, doing, you know, I mean, although it looks like they're just building this pixelated boxes everywhere. No, they're actually learning some amazing. Every architect, engineer, developer is like, man, stop, let them play.

SPEAKER_01:

Let them make like processing chips and stuff in Minecraft. I'm like, whoa, I didn't even know how to do this.

SPEAKER_00:

They're forging, they're there, they're learning how the they're learning how things mix to make, like, like, like they just don't get a piece of wood. They have to go chop down a tree, cut the tree.

SPEAKER_03:

Chemical composition.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, chemical comp all that is being learned in this game. And then they're building homes. Like we have a we have a young gamer in our facility, he builds theme parks, and you should see the amount of work that goes into some of the theme parks he builds. And and so it's just all the things that they're learning how to tap into that creative side of their brain, where now they're learning how to discover and explore things. Like, that's the mind of an entrepreneur, too. So you think about what Minecraft really teaches, it teaches this creativeness, this, this, this understanding of of how things work in the real world that can now be applied if you if you show them that. But again, if if you don't understand that, all you see are just these little pixel boxes being pill, right?

SPEAKER_01:

It's like that's that's very it's a very good point. There's a lot now. I see why this is a$500 billion industry is because it's way big and it's probably gonna go. What what do you think this is gonna grow to over the next probably 10 years?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, for you mean for Valhalla or for just the industry. For both, yeah. Let's start with Valhalla first. Yeah, I would say for Valhalla, I mean our goal now that we've acquired the whole company, it's to it's to continue to scale our arenas and continue to have a national footprint, is to grow our online presence because yesterday we didn't have an online presence. Basically, in order to be a part of our community, you had to be a part and in person, right? Yeah, it's only in that city. But that shouldn't, but the city shouldn't be a moat, right? It should so we have to build bridges everywhere. Online allows us to do that, and online allows us to scale and scale fast. Got it. And so us building our Valhalla in online, now we can connect kids in all communities to come be a part of our ecosystem and be a part of learning and development and community and training and competition. And then the third tier is really helping more kids see that there's a competitive league that they can be a part of where they don't have to find leagues on their own, which are sometimes difficult for them to find. And then finding leagues that actually helps them grow and develop. Because a lot of these leagues you enter into that are independent, because there's no age restrictions, you can have a kid learning to play a game for the first time with only maybe 50 hours of gameplay, playing against someone who's played a thousand hours. And those that's night and day skills, right? These guys are playing sometimes all grinding. All night long, right? And so that's just not a good start for someone who's looking to compete in this industry. At least in our league, we we help create these different platforms for our kids to compete in. So just like if you were to play baseball for the first time and you're six years old, you start off with T-ball. So we have our T-ball division in esports. Oh, different tiers. And then once you get some experience, then you go to like, you know, rec ball. We just we have the same tier in esports. And then you want to play a little, you want to get a little bit more competitive. We have our competitively club. We have that in our esports league. And then if you really want to challenge yourself, you go to little league, right? That's highly that's where you know you're playing the creme de la creme of competition. Yeah, we have that. And then now, because of we we building that layer, now high schools who are building their esports teams have a place to find their new their new talent. Or we have our own high school division where our kids can compete in. And then from there, now colleges have a place to come find the kids. That's powerful. Because you think about it today, colleges don't know where to find these gamers. So they have a very difficult time recruiting them. But now, because of Vahalin, there's a destination for universities to find the gamers because our because we we only target the youth, where all these other tournament platforms can target all ages. And then from there you have the professional realm. So I would say for us, because of our league, because of because of our arenas, and because of our online model, that our online model is going to be able to help us identify where new arenas should go. Because now imagine if you have, if you're, if you're in Tempe, Arizona, and there's 250 of you in the community online in Tempe, and then we tell all 250 that an arena is coming to your city now. Now there's excitement. Now you're already ready. Now you know, okay, we have a place to call home. So now we're just gonna invert the model versus plopping brick and mortar arenas just anywhere, we're gonna let the online community tell us where they should be.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's gonna allow us to really check the pulse of what's happening.

SPEAKER_00:

Check the pulse. We know where to scale, we know how fast to scale. So then that way all three of these and all three of these units work together to help us grow.

SPEAKER_01:

And then we know I gotta ask before I forget. Say we want to open a franchise. What does that cost for us to open a franchise? Can we get into that? Is there is there opportunities? But now, because you guys own everything, is there opportunities for that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we are actually converting our model more to a corporate model.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Yeah, and so because because of the fact that you know people hear this, they don't want to they want they want to buy a franchise.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I I would say instead of focusing on buying a franchise, you know, focus on investing in the corporate model. So then that way you're a part of the plan to accelerate and grow. Because as we are identifying locations to put these in, we want to make certain yeah, you're part of the bigger, you're you're a part of the corporate strategy. And the corporate strategy, and if you believe in the corporate strategy, it it your investment is now secured. Got it. You know, we're gonna make certain that as these arenas are open, we you know, the right principles, the right activities, the right engagement, the right coaching is happening in every single city. So that's where corporate's gonna be able to manage it. So almost think of it like if you had a chance to invest in in and out, like this is your chance to invest in in and out. Yeah, where if if if you know, you know, the model, the like the model is there. And and when you when you think about it, when you when they open an in and out, you don't ever have to worry about traffic.

SPEAKER_03:

Right away.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's it's you could have an in and out right down the street from each other, and you know what's up. And the line's gonna be around the block.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Their whole story is that I met the owner, the owner's daughter at West Hollywood, and she's amazing. Yeah. What they've been able to do. But in and out, just that's a great example.

SPEAKER_00:

But they protect, but they protect that brand and and that and and the consistency. They want to make certain any in and out you go to is your double double, your animal fraud, it's all the same. So they protect that. And that's what we're looking to do because this is a community that deserves to have the best, deserve to have the best competition, deserve to have the best approach to educating and growing young gamers. And we want to protect that. To kind of go back, the fourth thing we're looking to do is adding that educational component, really starting to be a place where esports is used, kind of like what you mentioned, you're teaching your daughter economy, right? Through through gaming. There are so many games out there that you can use to teach economy, to teach teamwork, collaboration, creativity. So we're we're also instituting programs that use gaming to help improve a child's journey in their academic career. So we're also using that as well. So with those four, I would say, programs that we're creating, it's gonna really allow us to help us scale to a place where this as a corporation, we should be worth the billion dollars in the next five years. So that's the goal. So you gotta invest. You gotta invest people.

SPEAKER_01:

They gotta invest. You got a great mind, man. I know, I know I asked you this before, man. So we're finishing up here, but just business and life advice, man. You do a lot of stuff, not just with Vahaland, you do stuff in the hotel industry, hospitality industry, angel investor, I know a lot about. What's one lesson every entrepreneur should hear that's made the biggest impact for you?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I would say the one lesson is that don't don't put limits on yourself. You know, I put limits on myself for 25 years being in the corporate world. I believe that that was that that was the that was you, that was me, right? But that was me allowing corporate to define who I was. The moment I left corporate and became an entrepreneur, it allowed me to dream. And not only allowed me to dream, it allowed me to do something with my dream. So there are a lot of people who dream, but then they don't do anything with it. And sometimes you you allow this this this this this voice in your head to tell you it's too much, you can't do this, you're it's not, you know, you're not enough. You're not, you know, you you you've never done this before, so don't. All that is is fear trying to hold you back. Well, anytime I feel fear, I just face it head on. Like if I so for example, I feared owning multiple homes because I was always taught you own one home, you pay off the home, and then you possibly buy a second home. Yeah, but there's a lot of risk when doing that. I said, okay, I'm not gonna think that way. If if the fear is not to own a second home, then I gotta go get a second home, then a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, right? Keep pushing. Then just keep pushing. If you're not pushing, if you're not stretching your your rubber band, it's just think about it. If you keep stretching your rubber band, it's going, it's going that that elasticity is going to stretch, right? But if you don't ever do anything with it, it's gonna stay tight and small. Yeah, so I just keep stretching myself as much as I can. So I went from homes to apartment complexes, from apartment complexes to hotels. And if you would have told me this six months ago or six years ago, I would have called you a liar. I would have said, You are lying. I just want to own one home, a picket fence, and a dog with my wife and my two kids. Because that's safe. Because it's safe. And in in everywhere you go, everyone wants you to be safe. But if you think about any successful entrepreneur, think of anyone, whether it's Jeff Basil's, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Damon Johns.

SPEAKER_01:

I just met Jesse Itzler and was probably one of the best. I don't know if you know what that is. Ran with David Goggins. Remember back in the day, the Navy SEAL. Oh, yeah. His wife owned Spanks and all that sold at the Blackstone back in the day. I met him recently. It was amazing conversation. Yeah, yeah. But their mind is what you just said. Yeah. You know, he does those hundred-mile races.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, exactly. To challenge himself. Yeah. I do tough mutters now to challenge myself. Yeah. It's in it, but again, it's that whole place. Like, stop playing it safe. Every time I see something is safe, I I have to step out of it. Safe is your comfort zone. I love it. And you can't grow to your, you can't grow to who you are really supposed to be if you're constantly living in that comfort zone. I love it. So I would just say my best advice is if if you're if there's fear stopping you from doing something, attack it head on. Love it. Attack it head on.

SPEAKER_01:

Love it. I can't leave you out of here without asking about restaurants. I'm a big foodie. I'm always wanting to know what everybody's eating, man. So I thought you shared with us before, man. What's what's a favorite restaurant for you and your wife to go eat at now? Oh. In Vegas.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, there's three. I don't know if I can give you three. Sure, go for it. Okay. Well, my wife's favorite restaurant that she constantly makes me take her to is Esther's Kitchen. Esther's a great. I go to Esther's a lot. Yeah. So Esther's is number one on her list. I would say number one on my list right now that I that I, if I ever, if I anytime I get a chance to go to, I will, is Barry's. Yeah, we had them all. Marco Yassine. Marco is Yassin. Yeah, those guys, amazing. What I love about their restaurant is the hospitality.

SPEAKER_03:

They're second to none, those guys over there.

SPEAKER_00:

You've had grandma's cookies, right? Okay. So it's like solid. It's solid. Yeah. Solid people. It brings back just the way restaurants should always be, right? Glad you said that. Yeah. A lot of people say that. Yeah, I love it. But now the restaurant that my wife and I both, if we were to pick one together, I would probably have to say, oh my goodness. Saffron.

SPEAKER_01:

Saffron's very good. Vegan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's very good.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a little hidden gym right off Spring Mountain. And it's beautiful in there. It is nice. Nobody has said saffron. I know you've been there. That's a new one. It's very good.

SPEAKER_03:

It's vegan food. That's probably why I never been there. But you'll be very, you'll be very surprised. No, you'll be very surprised.

SPEAKER_00:

Unless, I mean, and as you get, you you'll learn is as you get older, your body just doesn't respond to certain things. Spring Mountain indicator.

SPEAKER_03:

I was like, Tacotarian's another gun I like. That's uh that's vegan. So I'm definitely open to it.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll be honest with you, saffron is very good. Yeah. My kids even love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, if you love Tacotarian, you will flip over. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna give it a try. Yeah. That's a good, yeah, you got a good palate, brother.

SPEAKER_01:

You got a good palate, brother. So much to talk with you, but we gotta keep having you come on each year. A lot going on. So where can people find out or find your social handles people can reach out to you guys on?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so you can find us on uh social with Valhalla Vegas. Um, that's our local social media channel. Okay, our national social media channel is Valhalla Esports Training. So follow us on both. Matter of fact, look for all 23 locations and follow all 23 because every local area has its own local narrative that we really want to promote and stand up. Yeah, for me personally, you can find me, just email me, morris.jackson at vahalin.com. I'm always looking for strategic partners. I'm always looking for like-minded individuals who want to benefit the youth community, and we're always looking for investors who want to be strategic partners to help us grow, accelerate, and scale what we're doing. I mean, we're on a mission right now. I mean, when we first came on this show, we talked about in five years dominating this industry. Now you just bought the whole business.

SPEAKER_01:

So you you back at your words, brother. Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, we if you again, a year and a half into it or two years into it, look where we are today. Yeah. And this is just the beginning for us. So we're pretty darn excited.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh see, this is why I said this is what I want to grow up to be, man. No, no, but no, no, I applaud, no, I'm and I'm saying that with I applaud you because you got a great mind, man, and you do a lot of different things. And like you said, you put it into fruition, you actually do it, and you're a worker so that you get it done, man. So I appreciate that. I appreciate you hanging out with us again, man. We have to run it back, man. And check us out at the VegasCirc.com. So I appreciate your time, man. Good stuff. Thank you. Thank you, my man. Appreciate it. Yeah, that was great.