Who says that video games aren’t a sport?
To think that in this day and age a video game tournament was able to garner more viewers than both Game 7’s of the 2014 World Series and the 2013 NBA Finals is pretty exciting news…if you’re into this whole video game thing.
The tournament in question was the League of Legends World Championship, won by South Korean team Samsung White. The number of viewers who tuned in to watch the event? 27 million. Yep, that’s million with an “M.” To compare, the World Series Game 7 between the Giants and Royals averaged around 23.5 million viewers while the NBA Finals Game 7 between the Spurs and Heat garnered 26.3 million. What’s even more impressive about the League of Legends World Championship is that viewership was actually down 5 million viewers from 2013. Again, million with an “M.”
Video games are getting bigger and bigger, with those playing them professionally actually making almost $1 million a year while becoming celebrities in the process. It’s been known that fans tend to follow and support their favorite sports teams and in the case of gaming it’s no different.
Viewers watched a combined 179 hours of League of Legends competition, and was broadcast from 40 companies and in 19 languages. The finals this year were held in Sangam Stadium, located in South Korea and able to seat 40,000. Last year the 2013 finals were held in the Staples Center.
League of Legends has been getting more popular in the United States, with Chicago University Robert Morris actually offering scholarships for video gamers. Here’s hoping that this positive trend of gaming continues.
