Chicago joins the League

CHICAGO — Riot Games, the company behind the immensely popular game “League of Legends” announced that their 2016 world championship will tour a number of dates across North America. Among these, the quarterfinals will bring League to the Chicago Theater from October 13 to 16. The Chicago Theater takes its place as one of the revered venues that the world championship will visit alongside Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The League World Championship (LWC) has been a premier herald for the rise of eSports not only in North America, but across the entire world. The demand for professional eSports has skyrocketed in the past year alone, generating not only interest in playing video games, but observing professionals in the same way as traditional sports.

The 2015 LWC toured the greater reaches of Europe, not only holding their events in landmark arenas, but even selling out these landmark arenas. Throughout its run, the 2015 LWC managed to consecutively sell out the Wembley Arena, Brussels Expo, and the Mercedes-Benz Arena, attracting fans from all across Europe and the world. Fortune Magazine described the 2015 LWC as the World Cup and Super Bowl combined. Even more impressive than the live turnout was the global tuning-in of fans from all across the world to online live streams. The championship broke records across traditional television broadcasting and online streaming. The 73 games played through the 2015 series averaged 4.2 million viewers, with an approximate total of 334 million viewers throughout the four weeks of the tournament.

Watching eSports in a live arena setting is often misconstrued by many. The idea of eSports professionals sitting behind computers to play video games has alienated many traditional sports fans, and perpetuated the stigma that eSports pros are not athletes. Yet these views are shrinking each day, as eSports publicity continues to soar and supporters from all walks of life continue to appear in favor of the industry.

Three-time NBA champion Rick Fox founded his own eSports organization in December of 2015 under the name “Echo Fox”. Founded as a tribute towards his son’s love of video games, Fox has become an immense advocate for eSports in the professional world. In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Fox was asked if he sees a future where parents take their kids to competitive gaming events.

“Yes, because there is a generation that’s grown up celebrating and enjoying competitive gaming,” Fox said. “For me, if I’m looking at myself and my relationship with my son through gaming, then I’m sure he and his son or daughter will share that love and passion, [as well]. That’s why I think you see eSports taking off.”

The Chicago Bears’ own offensive lineman Kyle Long has revealed himself to be an avid eSports supporter over his social media following the “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” Major’s Championship, held in Columbus, Ohio. Long has expressed his love of the industry and its players, and even said that he wants to direct his interest to eSports when his time in the NFL concludes. He already streams his own gaming endeavors on the popular streaming site, Twitch TV.

“I want to open up gaming centers for kids who can’t afford their own gaming consoles and computers. It gives them better things to do than run the street,” Long said on his Twitter. “Imagine if kids had a place to go where they could work in cooperation with one another, develop relationships, and stay out of trouble.”

This October and the arrival of the 2016 LWC marks Chicago’s first real exposure to live eSports. Among the most excited for this arrival are college students, historically the most involved and active demographic in the eSports industry. It’s no secret, either. The college demographic is also the target audience for the sales of many video games. Companies know the importance of this audience, and cater to it as such. Blizzard Entertainment’s “Heroes of the Storm” has hosted its own collegiate tournament for the past two years, with a first place prize of tuition paid-in-full for the winning team.

Michael Udall, the captain of Arizona State University’s winning 2016 team, has become quite the college advocate for the eSports industry. His campus shared in excitement over their victory as well.

“There was a buzz around campus where my friends who knew nothing about gaming knew I had won the tournament, which was a really cool experience for my team,” Udall said. “The feeling among the student body was that, even though it was video games, it was still really cool that ASU was a national champion.”

Udall believes that eSports will eventually overtake traditional sports in popularity, and it begins with this college demographic.

“I believe that eSports has the potential to overtake traditional sports because of how far reaching it is. Literally anyone can theoretically be a professional video game player. You can’t say the same for football or basketball. What are the chances of a 5 foot 90 pound person being in the NFL? Pretty close to zero in my opinion.” Udall continued on to say, “I think in the distant future within the next 3 years collegiate eSports will start to amass a following, and within the next 5 to 7 years there will be a fully developed collegiate scene, including scholarships given by the university.”

In Chicago, the arrival of large-scale eSports events has generated excitement among students at DePaul University. Brenden Pederson, a sophomore at DePaul, thinks that the 2016 LWC will not only create awareness of the industry in Chicago, but draw tourists and enthusiasts from across the world to the city in order to take part.

“As with any sport, you have to legitimize your sport. When there’s competition there, that’s a sport,” Pederson explained. “It will take people time, as a society and a culture, to recognize that, but I think we’re getting there and that’s exciting to me.”

Tom Medlock, a senior at DePaul, shares in Pederson’s optimism. He believes that the professional and well-produced atmosphere of eSports, especially at events like the LWC, are going generate a lot of positive attention towards the industry.

“The games only get more interesting to play when you know there are professionals out there. It makes you wonder while you’re playing if you have what it takes, or if you can stack up to the pros.” Medlock continued, “I’d love to take my family to the LWC in October, I’d love to share that experience. People are starting to realize how entertaining eSports are to watch.”

Alex Hepler is a senior at DePaul as well, and while he loves gaming, he doesn’t share the same optimism for the LWC’s Chicago visit or eSports in general. He thinks that the event will only draw people within Chicago already aware that the event is coming, and nothing else.

“I don’t think people want to look into it,” Hepler said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s coming to your city, I just don’t think people have the interest to learn about the game or how to watch it. People are just more inclined to watching humans play sports.”

According to a number of polled college students regarding their involvement with eSports, Hepler may be right. Out of 50 college gamers, a resounding zero answered to purely watching eSports out of interest, while the majority both play and watch.

The LWC makes it’s way to the Chicago Theater from October 13 through 16, and Chicago will open it’s doors to the world of live eSports events. Information on the event can be found through both Riot Games and the Chicago Theater.