Professional Gaming to be Aired on ESPN by 2016

By Christian Heagy

It is no doubt that League of Legends is one of the most popular "Electronic Sports" of this modern era. "Electronic Sports," better known as "Esports," is a growing trend across the globe. The 2014 League of Legends World Championship climbed up to over 11 million concurrent viewers from around the world at it's peak.

With its exponential growth in popularity, it is no wonder that the demand to have professional Esports appear on television is on the rise and what better place to air it than famed sports channel, ESPN.

"It's no doubt that having pro League of Legends on television is a step in the right direction." announced Andy "Reginald" Dihn, coach and owner of Team Solo Mid, one of the longest running teams in the professional League of Legends scene. "The players are already in contracts and are treated like other sports players and it's about time they got on television."

"Having professional League of Legends aired on our channel will broaden our target audience outside of the typical sports watchers. We hope to have the Finals, if not all, of the League of Legends 2016 World Championship aired on our channel." explains John Skipper, president of ESPN, inc.

"I always found the traditional games aired on ESPN to be rather boring and quite barbaric. The introduction of Esports will be a breath of fresh air. It will be nice to see a knowledge based game that actually requires skill on ESPN" said video game enthusiast, Gary "xXsEmIpRoXx" Yang.

By adding League of Legends to the list of games they already air, ESPN seems to be making the right economic choice. The contract is set to be signed December 9, 2015.