Make No Mistake

TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONAL SPORTS ARE AT RISK OF LOSING A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THEIR FUTURE AUDIENCE.

Millions of post-millennials around the world are growing up idolizing eSports champions like Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok of South Korea and Enrique “xPeke” Martinez of Spain. They’re not rooting for the Vikings or the Packers or the Yankees—they’re rooting for Evil Geniuses and Virtus.pro. For them, the biggest sports upset story in recent memory is not Leicester City FC taking the Premier League title— it’s CDEC Gaming taking $2.8 million at The International 2015 Dota 2 Championship.

The traditional sports industry can’t assume these kids will just come around eventually. eSports has the Cool Factor. It’s truly global in a way that only soccer can rival. Its athletes are drug-tested. And it has a massive head start.