Amid the ongoing COVID-19 suspension of nearly all things sports related, along with stay-at-home orders and social distancing, professional leagues and organizations have turned to virtual reality and eSports as a method to provide live content to millions of sports fans.
Moving into the second month of NASCAR, collegiate and high school, professional soccer, NBA and NHL suspensions of their seasons, as well as Major League Baseball pushing back Opening Day, more and more eSports are being planned and carried out.
Last Sunday, on a simulcast of NASCAR's iRacing event on FOX and FS1, over 1.3 million viewers tuned in to watch former and current racers, as well as crew members, participate in the third virtual racing event.
On Wednesday, all 32 United Soccer League teams participated in the USL eCup Rocket League tournament group stages. It is essentially a soccer video game tournament, but instead of human (virtual) players, you use up to a four rocket-powered cars to play and score goals.
There will be 64 matches in the USL eCup Rocket League tournament, which is helping raise money for local charities to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The finals will be on April 25, and the entire tournament will be broadcast through the ESPN app.
The NBA also announced a NBA 2k20 Players-Only tournament, which begins today and will air on ESPN. Players are seeded based on their actual 2k20 rating, and Kevin Durant is the top seed with a 96 rating.
Professional video game players and pro tournaments have existed for decades. But unless you are a gamer or have a child who is heavy into gaming, you may not have known that.
Video games and eSports companies are finally in a situation to gain national even international attention due to the current threat we all face.
Ever hear of Kyle "Bugha" Giesdorf? I hadn't, I admit.
Last year Bugha, who was 16 years old at the time, became the Fortnite World Cup Champion for the solo division. He went from a dedicated Fortnite player to international celebrity, did several of the late night talk shows, and multimillionaire by winning the Fortnite World Cup.
Bugha's prize money for claiming the title: $3 million.
He still games several hours a day.
So with no end in sight and mandates to stay home, for schools to remain closed, and athletics at least as we know them continuing to be suspended, tune in to your favorite eSport broadcast. Or better yet, grab a controller.
You never know; you could be a natural gamer.