RL would easily be one of the best competitive "sports-like" game ever if the distribution of ability was smoother.
In my opinion it's the only thing holding it back and it's quite the large issue. There are a ton of new, bad players and a ton of legacy, god-tier players and little in-between.
Its just not fun to beat up on players considerably worse than you, and its no fun to get beat up by players considerably better than you. So few players make it to the right side of the skill distribution and just quit.