Could an Esports event do NFL/NBA/MLB ratings?

[CastletonSnob]

Esports is rising in popularity. Do you think one day an Esports event could get the kind of ratings the major sports organizations do?

[Logwyn]

No. This clique group of people won't get to be the next LaBron James.

[dope_danny]

No. Not enough people who play games care and people who dont play games consider watching people play games as much of a sport as competitive eating, perhaps less so.

Companies like Blizzard are mad thirsty for another brood war tier money farm but the audience exists but it is what it is.

[Nmkyungri]

Dota 2 and league and CSGO are as close as it gets, blizzard will never have a game at that level

[Nirawen]

With things like the official NBA eSports league coming next year there will be a spike in mainstream popularity, especially if those teams advertise it through/alongside their actual games and press, but I don't see it ever getting as close to even medium level sports like NBA and NFL.

[fangless]

League pulls numbers above NHL Finals currently, for Worlds, pretty sure. Not sure what S6 did compared to the rest, off the top of my head.

[Nmkyungri]

League pulls numbers above NHL Finals currently, for Worlds, pretty sure. Not sure what S6 did compared to the rest, off the top of my head.

League dota 2 and cs go all pull around 3million+

[Edge-]

"And with that, RANDOMNAME is the second player to score 3 headshots in the third round of the quarterfinals with a silenced M4A1 in a world championship for CS:GO!"

I look forward to the obscure, irrelevant baseball-style stats entering esports.

[FobManX]

They could maybe match the USA's NHL ratings(hockey does extremely poorly here outside of a few select markets)but that's probably its peak. Then again, poker was pretty popular for a while, so who knows, but I'd assume the people who would watch video games on TV would more likely watch on Twitch than on ESPN.

[Tech614]

It's such a blanket question.

What are we talking about with NFL/NBA/MLB ratings? We talking primetime games? Playoff games? Championship games? Or just random ass regional coverage games?

Will esports draw ratings like the WS/SB/NBA finals? Probably not any time soon, but yes major esports events can draw more viewers then a daytime Royals vs As weekday regional coverage game.

[endersblade]

For the sake of humanity, I fucking hope not.

[TheCount]

I think most major(NBA,NFL,MLB,NHL) have been suffering a decline in overall popularity. Its really noticeable for MLB and NHL which have been in decline for a few years now.

Esports has a way to go before it can match prime time NFL games though.

[kail]

Right now, no. Not even close. But there's no telling what the future holds and the trend is favoring the video games industry.

[MrExcelion]

Not immediately, but given a couple decades, potentially, as generations die off

[StrawberryZebra]

Given the accesibility of gaming in general now, I think it's only a matter of time before eSports starts overtaking "real" sports in terms of viewers. Hell, DOTA internationals have been known to have Prize pots bigger than pro golf tournaments. Some sports, like Boxing, have had declining viewers for a long time now while it's being overtaken in popularity by MMA.

The big hold ups are incidents like what happened at EVO this year, where the top 8 of Street Fighter 5 were broadcast on ESPN. Players were asked to change their costumes. Both in game and on stage. This year it was Cammy causing problems, with her default outfit no less, last year it was Rainbow Mika causing controversy for the same reasons. Apparently they're both too revealing to be broadcast on ESPN.

Regretably these kinds of things tend to stick in peoples minds far longer than great play at the tournaments themselves. You and I will remember amazing play like Moment 37, but for the casual viewer, they're going to equate Street Fighter to skantilly clad women fighting each other. The negative social stigma attached to gaming is more damaging to eSports growth in future than perhaps anything else.

[Kathandira]

Esports is rising in popularity. Do you think one day an Esports event could get the kind of ratings the major sports organizations do?

Eventually maybe. But not any time too soon.

[Valeron]

Not close, not ever. I imagine it will always be in the range of something like the X-Games

[fangless]

Not close, not ever. I imagine it will always be in the range of something like the X-Games

We say that, but look at Esports even like 2 years ago. It was really close nit and definitely a niche market.

Now we have professional sports teams and other heavy investor groups putting in millions of dollars into their own clubs, etc. They're climbing over themselves to get into the LCS, or the Overwatch league.

[StrawberryZebra]

Not close, not ever. I imagine it will always be in the range of something like the X-Games

I disagree, games like Rocket League have both have a broad base appeal and have low barriers for entry. Combine that with a game that is very simple to understand without any external explanations or knowing any of the games mechanics and you've got yourself an ideal spectator eSport right there.

The X-Games on the other hand are more niche since not all of us have access to places we can Snowboard, Ski etc all year round. At this point, I'd expect most people with a TV to have at least one device in their homes capable of playing Rocket League however.

[Jimmy Thick]

There is no way E-Sports will come close to the NFL, thats folly. Or MLB as long as big market teams like the Cubs or the Yankess keep winning.