Sounds Like An eSports Hockey League Is On The Way
SportTechie – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday he could see the league eventually hosting an eSports hockey league competition.
“We envision something that would augment a fan’s affinity to his team because ultimately I could envision a league-wide competition where each club runs a competition to see who will be represented in the equivalent of our championship but for our eSport game,” Bettman said at Leaders’ Sport Business Summit.
Bettman’s vision appears similar to that of the NBA, which announced last month that it would partner with Take-Two Interactive Software to become the first U.S. professional sports league to operate an official eSports league called the NBA 2K eLeague. The NBA is set to have its basketball teams run NBA 2K eLeague teams starting in 2018.
I’ve written a solid handful of blogs in the past shitting on eSports. And in every single one of those blogs, I’ve said the same exact thing. The idea of eSports is great. Video games are ultra mega dope. I’d much rather watch my buddies play ‘Chel for an hour than have to sit through a real life Flyers vs Avalanche game. Where eSports loses me is the games that they play competitively. I’m sure that there are millions of people out there who play League of Legends or whatever that game is called. But that also means that there are millions of nerds in the world. You can’t broadcast a bunch of dorks playing League of Legends on ESPN unless you want them to get made fun of mercilessly. If you want people to take eSports seriously, then you have to have exactly what’s going on here. You need a league for Madden. You need an NBA 2K league. You need a ‘Chel league. You need a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater League. Games that everybody knows and understands. Every time I see an eSports broadcast on tv is like I’m watching a 4chan convention. Which is equal parts confusing and terrifying. You get all those people together in the same room and who knows what they’re capable of doing.
Anyway, yes, give me all of the eSports Hockey Leagues. And don’t just stop at NHL 17. Give me an NHL Hitz league. Give me a Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey league. And most importantly, give me an “Old Time Hockey” league. Which comes out a week from yesterday.
Sidenote: As far as video games to play with your boys whilst pre-gaming to go out are concerned, my power rankings go
3. FIFA
2. Chel
1. Kart