ESPN Gets Really Serious About Esports With New Division

In Korea Esport was on tv like LoL until RIOTS buy the korean scene, (don't know how it works there now) but it was really popular. I'm not sure if it will work in Na.

no one is going to watch it on tv... they dont realize this "esports" thingie is for teenagers or people below 30, not for adults, and msot of them watch it on twitch, tv is now old news with youtube and twitch...

dont know why most people who watch esports watch twitch.i dont think many would watch it on tv actually if they have twitch.

Does DotA or its clones really appeal to outsiders? It seems like a game you couldn't appreciate as a non-player.

I guess what I'm thinking about is a games active player to viewer ratio. Some games seem to get more viewers than players. I'd think that would be important in getting a popular esport. But in like the case of league, there must be significantly less viewers than players.

Golf vs NFL would be a similar situation in sports I'd say. One is played more, one is watched more. Maybe esports will be similar.

being a gamer, i am definitely find it more interesting to watch e-sports than the other sports

This is interesting as there was a huge article in a recent Los Angeles Times, where they talked about the fact that despite Disney's massive success with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, that the stock was still down and many believed this was due to poor performance of ESPN (the network has taken a huge ratings hit as of late). This may be an attempt to "stop the bleeding", if you will.

It's called esports because that clarifies that is not about athleticism. That would be just sports. esports are more for reaction times, communication and coordination. It may have the word sport in it, but that is something completely different of course. Should we call it the Olympic sports, rather than games? Other words in the english language mean drastically different things when in different contexts. Why is this any different?

Simply put I don't think ESPN will do well.

Wow, this is pretty disgraceful, but ESPN is also the same company that thinks poker deserves to be on a sports channel, so I guess it's not surprising that they would go for this shameless cash grab.

This is great news. People need to adapt, as concepts evolve, and Esports is definitely on the rise.

HAHAHA! ESPN became the "ESPN of e-sports" before Activision could.

Watching esports is just as pointless and unexciting as watching Poker. Perfect for ESPN?

Love it. Im not even in the esport scene but the fact that its getting this much coverage is awesome. they need to cover evo and other tourneys and ill def watch

Love it. Im not even in the esport scene but the fact that its getting this much coverage is awesome. they need to xover evo and other tourneys and ill def watch

Nothing says "take us seriously" like a giant logo with a wired mouse as the focal point lol.

That Texas Hold 'em tourny they broadcasted years ago wasn't sh*t either. Until it was over after Moneymaker won. It then became a major event covered by other networks. Even have a show called Poker After Dark on NBC. Not a porn movie. >_< We'll see. I love it. That channel Mark Cuban had called GameplayHD ruled. They covered tourny's as well.

Good, stick it in the corner somewhere away from actual sports.

Haha. Suck it Cowherd.