In the summer of 2018 I visited the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the Overwatch League (OWL) Grand Finals, and it was by far the best sports experience of my life. I have been to countless professional sports events in stadiums full of passionate fans, however, the OWL finals was the most electric crowd I have ever been a part of. Crowds flock from all across the globe to enjoy these events, so much so that the event sold out a full size sports arena for two consecutive days, a feat even the Brooklyn Nets, who play in the same arena, struggle to accomplish. This begs the question, how big are esports and why should you care?

Even if you don't partake in watching sports, you probably still hear about the results of the Super Bowl or see a story about Lebron James every once in awhile. This could soon be the case for esports. Currently the esport market is sitting around $1 billion and is growing rapidly. Many experts believe it could grow as large as $1.65 billion by just 2020. To put those numbers into perspective, the average NFL team is worth $2.57 billion and with the growth of the NFL stagnating and esports on the exponential rise, it is not unlikely for the NFL to be surpassed.

Although esports revenue seems promising, since there is no overarching organization for esports, total viewership is a more appropriate metric to show global popularity. The chart below shows just how popular some of these events can be compared to some other popular sports events. Not shown is the 2018 Super Bowl which drew 103.4 million viewers, almost 3 million lessthan the 2017 League of Legends world championship.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/27...

For the most part these events are only broadcasted online at twitch.tv. Recently, however, some sports networks have decided to pick up some esports events. The aforementioned Overwatch League Grand Finals actually aired on ESPN for the full duration of the event on both days. This included detailed explanations of the rules of the game, an incredibly viewer friendly interface, and exciting and informative commentary. All of these factors combined helped draw in previously uninterested viewers, further growing the popularity of the genre. This combined with the fact that people ages 14-21 are equally interested in esports as the NFL, the esports industry stands poised for unprecedented growth in the coming years.

As a testament to the global popularity of the scene, just in my small group of 8 people, some traveled from California, Delaware, and even the United Kingdom to see the end of OWL's inaugural season. With the industry growing at an exponential rate, and the first season garnering the attention that it has, it would not come as a surprise to see esports surpass traditional sports in not only popularity, but influence as well.