So ESPN is officially dedicating air time to E Sports

[Bufkin]

I've been noticing on my Facebook news feed that ESPN is posting more and more news articles about "E Sports", which is apparently competitive video gaming. I wish to God this was satirical, but it looks to actually be a thing now.

I'm baffled. This is the beginning of the end for ESPN right?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

There is a college in our town that has a small building dedicated for E-sports.

With that said, pre-Internet, ESPN used to run "fitness" shows that were expressly designed to help guys jack off. Remember Kiana's Flex Appeal?

[mr. tegu]

This is going to get in the way of all the other quality programming that they produce which is both informative and intelligent.

[Gonzo]

I actually almost entered a tournament for rocket league but I remembered that I can have sex instead.

[listopencil]

ESPN is still on the air? I thought they shut down that shit show.

[New World Order]

I actually almost entered a tournament for rocket league but I remembered that I can have sex instead.


What about sex and Rocket League at the same time?

[Demonpenz]

Kids don't play sports anymore. They play five days at freddy's

[Buck]

I've been noticing on my Facebook news feed that ESPN is posting more and more news articles about "E Sports", which is apparently competitive video gaming. I wish to God this was satirical, but it looks to actually be a thing now.



I'm baffled. This is the beginning of the end for ESPN right?


Don't be stupid. ESPN wouldn't get it's hands dirty if it wasn't going to make them money. There are millions of people watching video games on Twitch.TV everyday. Amazon bought twitch for $1 billion a few years ago. Coincidentally, ESPN started covering video games around the same time.

[Quesadilla Joe]

A few years ago the final round of a League of Legends tournament had more viewers than Game 7 of the World Series (SF/KC). The majority of those viewers were most likely men < 30 years old which is a key demographic for ESPN.

I personally don't watch competitive gaming but there are ton of people that do.

[Mile High Mania]

Kids don't play sports anymore. They play five days at freddy's

Kids still play a ton of sports ... they just don't 'go outside' anymore if they're not at school or playing sports. It's all club/select driven types of sports, kids just don't get together for a pickup game of anything anymore.

[Sully]

It's on either TNT or TBS or one of those on Saturday nights for a few hours. I've tuned in for a few minutes to watch, and not having played whatever game they are playing, don't get the draw.

[loochy]

Ha. Speaking of this, I listened to an esports show last night on our local sports radio station while I mowed the lawn. They were discussing the inter team drama for teams in some big international counter striket tournament coming up.

[patteeu]

ESPN2 carried a Heroes of the Storm tournament among college teams not long ago (called Heroes of the Dorm, lol).

E-sports have all the same drama as real sports (and more than soccer, haha) so don't let yourself take a knee-jerk, get off my lawn attitude. Have an open mind. It's coming and it's going to get bigger.

E-sports have been big in South Korea for a couple of decades where they have regular television coverage.

Starcraft 2 isn't the most popular e-sport anymore, but IMO it's still one of the best spectator games. Thanks to Taco John for turning me on to it a few years ago.

[ptlyon]

I only watch The Ocho anymore...

[patteeu]

For anyone interested in giving an e-sport a try, the next big non-Korean Starcraft 2 tournament (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2016_DreamHack_Open/Valencia) takes place on the July 14-16 weekend. It takes place in Europe so it will probably be going on mid-morning to early afternoon, USA time. There will be an English language stream available on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/StarCraft%20II).

The very top pro Starcraft players are all Koreans and they have their own ongoing tournament (GSL) that's played over a longer period of time. Here is the info page (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2016_Global_StarCraft_II_League_Season_2/Code_S) that includes dates and times for the matches. Since it's played in Korea, the start time is usually around 4:30 am Kansas City time, so it's kind of inconvenient for people who usually sleep at night. An English language stream for this tournament can also be found on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/StarCraft%20II).

[DC.chief]

Haven't got into watching much esports yet. Especially for games I don't play but I see the appeal and it's growing at a rapid pace. There's a lot of money in that shit.

I played counter strike source in two different leagues back in the day and man what good memories. I wasn't quite good enough to make any serious money from it but you certainly can.

[mcaj22]

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