The definition of what an athlete is may remove the strength requirement leaving only the quickness and endurance requirements in this century.
Move over ESPN, the first app for ESports was released this week by TheScore, a Canadian sports media company. The company is also investing in journalists to cover online gaming competitions and happenings.
If you are unaware of what the Millennials have been up to the last decade, consider this chart:
That is correct, The World Series and NCAA final 4 do not even total the viewership of one online video game's finale (League of Legends, an online fantasy multiplayer game). In the future, physical sports might have their own designation as "irl" (in-real life) sports.
The federal government recognized Esports players as professional athletes in 2013 to make it easier for foreign players to compete in the U.S.
Prize money in online gaming competitions has jumped 350% in the past 4 years with a rise in viewership and total viewing hours is forecasted to more than double by 2018 to 6.6 billion hours. Electronic Sports viewership hit 71 million people worldwide in 2013 according to Emarketer.
"Twitch.tv, the leading video game platform used by professional gamers and companies like Riot to stream competitions, has become the fourth-leading website in peak internet traffic in the United States, ahead of Facebook." USA Today
YouTube was looking to buy Twitch but Amazon swooped in and shelled out the one billion dollars in August of last year. Esports audiences fill stadiums in the U.S. and Korea while entrepreneurs in Britain plan on building a designated Esports arena.
The 2014 Super Bowl was watched by an estimated 111.5 million people, but Esports viewership has doubled over the last year. In January, League of Legends creator Riot Games announced that the game has 67 million monthly users (worldwide). For comparison, an estimated 24 million play basketball in the United States, and less than 9 million people play football. USA Today
Gaming is very easy to do and to be a contender internationally or make money playing them will take thousands of hours of practice and dedication. We can only hope the that at least some of the brightest young minds aren't swallowed up by video games and dedicate their time to more beneficial careers that solve problems for people in the world. Is boredom a problem?