Competetive video games, as some people call them, is one of the latest popular trends amongst gamers and technophiles alike. They take some of the most popular competitive games, take five of the best people in the world and put them on a team, then pit the teams against each other to broadcast to all the adoring fans. Although they do not take the same kind of athleticism that traditional sports require, they are a highly intensive strategic endeavor that takes teamwork, communication, and reaction time to succeed. They also have similar statistics to traditional sports with regards to their revenue numbers and viewer counts. Professionals can get visas in order to travel internationally to compete in events. Is there a reason that they should not be considered sports?

Google defines a sport as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Can we really consider throwing a bowling ball down a lane physical exertion? What about competitive chess? This is in the Olympic as a sport and takes no physical exertion at all. There is a new genre of sport that the community calls eSports.

“But video games aren’t a sport! They’re just for nerds who don’t have any friends and want to sit in their basement,” I might hear the conservative, old school football fan say. If moving a bishop to B6 is enough physical exertion to be a sport, then surely moving a mouse with pinpoint accuracy could be one as well.
           

eSports are a thriving community on the internet even though they rarely see any success on television. They attract more viewers and make more money than some of the most famous competitions around. The League of Legends world championship final match attracted a viewership of over 33 million unique viewers while the NBA championship that year only had 19 million views. The DotA international prize pool was over $18 million which is more than most individual tournaments of any sport. They are competitive games made to entertain. The teams consist of talented players, coaches, and are run by over heading organizations. The similarities between eSports and real sports are striking.
           

Even if the average football fan wouldn’t tune into a Counter Strike major, it is still important that this scene expands to television. They are too close to sports to not be considered, and they make too much money for it to not be beneficial for the channels. The integration of these two mediums is a necessary step of keeping TV alive because the instant access and limitless possibility of the internet is going to make it obsolete. Bringing eSports to television channels is a necessity if TV would like to remain as a relevant medium and keep pace with the internet.