According to a source close to the companies from PVPlive.net , ESPN is in talks with Riot Games to acquire the television rights for League of Legends for $500 million. This is just a rumor at this point, but it doesn’t seem too far out of the realm of possibility. ESPN has been working on their eSports coverage , covering as much of the scene as they can muster.
Still, this does seem a little odd, since at one point the CEO of ESPN, John Skipper, said about eSports , “it’s not a sport — it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition. Mostly, I’m interested in doing real sports.” That was two years ago, and eSports is now serious money. Everyone wants to get into this new cash cow that’s expected to earn over $1 billion by 2020 .
According to PVPLive, ESPN would only have the rights for television and not for online streaming. Riot still has deals with Twitch and YouTube and it's unsure how everything is going to fit together. It’s a crazy rumor, but it seems possible. Riot has had sponsorship deals with Coca-Cola and American Express in the past (I had the League debit card) so partnering with a TV company would be a logical next step.
League of Legends and eSports are phenomenons that haven’t really been exploited on television yet. TBS is launching its “ELeague” tomorrow with a three hour Counter Strike tournament. ESports needs legitimacy and ESPN likes viewers; it seems like a match made in money heaven.
Update: Riot and ESPN have confirmed that the story isn’t true. Riot spoke to Engadget and said: “"The story is inaccurate -- no active talks with ESPN at the moment." ESPN told Engadget “The story is false. We do not have a deal with Riot Games to broadcast League of Legends."
That’s what I get for getting my hopes up.
