When you think of sports, what do you imagine? Guys and girls getting sweaty running around a field kicking a ball, right? Well, the times have changed and with that, a new kind of sport has risen. No longer are the people who play video games to be made fun of due to the new sport called Electronic Sports, or better known as Esports. Now, I know some people are rolling their eyes at hearing that people claim that video games are sports, but look at the statistics behind the reasoning. If you look at the definition of sports, it reads, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Looking at a list of sports, chess and other games that require mind over physical exertion (athletes) are still considered a sport, albeit a “mental” sport. This gave rise to the Esports and cyber-athletes.
When the Dota 2 championship (a highly competitive online game consisting of two teams of 5) was previewed on ESPN 2 this past summer and aired on ESPN 3, the backlash was horrendous, from people spouting hate and negativity at the network for broadcasting something, “that is definitely not a sport.” Looking at ESPNs other “sports” however, shows broadcasts of cup stacking, poker, and spelling bees. Yet those are not given as much hate as the video game series. Taking numbers into account again, in 2013, game 7 of the NBA finals versus the Heat and Spurs was broadcast on ABC, a public network, for easy access. The game brought in a total of 26.3 million viewers. The same year the League of Legends world championship was broadcast on Twitch, a relatively small and unknown website that gamers really know of. Even then, however, the viewer count was 32 million. With that championship, it was held in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The game was sold out, filling every seat, totaling to about 18,118! The biggest Esports right now are the MOBAs or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, consisting of League of Legends, Smite, and Dota 2/Heroes of the Storm.
Due to Esports being a sport now, cyber athletes now have the ability to get scholarships. Two schools so far offer a scholarship if a student is ranked high enough within the League of Legends servers. With other schools adding Esports to their sports catalogue, it won’t be long until more colleges jump in. Esports on a global scale also have major sponsors same as physical sports do as well as prize pools. The prize pool for the 2014 League Championships was $2,130,000, with 1st place getting $1,000,000. A couple weeks ago, the Dota 2 championship prize pool was $18,429,613, with 1st place getting $6,634,661! The definition of sports and entertainment is constantly changing, and we as viewers have a task to do. We shouldn’t make fun of or constantly berate the idea of Esports. We should be happy and encourage the players to keep doing their best as they compete not only on a national level, but worldwide level. With that in mind, we are given another chance to chant “USA, USA, USA!” as the American team beat China in the past Dota 2 championship. So go out there! Cheer your fellow gamer friends on as they play their games!
