Among 14-21 Year Olds, eSports Are About As Popular To Watch As Football

[Steve_OS]

The times, they are a changing. In partnership with the Washington Post, the UMass Lowell Center...

Written By: Chris Sanner

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[MelR2000]

Well so much for mankind.* : )

[drewst18]

I'm a big fan of eSports, but when I talk about eSports I do not think of sports games.

I'm sure when this study was conducted they were looking at csgo/LoL/Dota which attract millions of viewers for a single match during their top tournaments.**

When it comes to actual sports vs their eSports (Madden to NFL)* counterpart I don't think it is even remotely close.* I think eSports will thrive in other genres but sports it will fall behind.* If will always be more exciting to watch the real thing.*

[Junior Moe]

Not a surprise. My 8 year old doesn't even watch TV anymore. He watches DanTDM and Jelly and other YouTubers playing games. He's not into sports. But if and when he does get into them I know how he's going to consume it. Its where we are now. I personally don't see anything wrong with it.

[IgotSyphillis]

Yeah but I don't think sports games will be popular e-sports. *E-sports in non-sport games are popular cause it's the only way to watch that game being played. I don't see why people who like watching basketball would flock to watching video game basketball when watching real basketball is a better option.*

[Golfsprince]

The pattern I see: NBA will overtake the NFL, and then eventually, eSports will overtake both. Soccer/football will be king for a very long time, but eSports will be in second. It has the global, cultural appeal like soccer has.

[creator2700]

Eh, 5 year-old me would have rather watched Blues Clues than football, 12 year-old me would have rather been watching Pokemon than football, 16 year-old me would have rather been watching Youtubers / playing video games than football, and here I am, watching multiple games each Sunday during the season, not caring for e-sports whatsoever.* I don't see today's kids watching esports into their 40s.* We grow out of our interests in a lot of things, and I think esports is just another instance of that.* It's never going to "take over" any real sport,.

[GlennN]

Quote: Originally Posted by creator2700

Eh, 5 year-old me would have rather watched Blues Clues than football, 12 year-old me would have rather been watching Pokemon than football, 16 year-old me would have rather been watching Youtubers / playing video games than football, and here I am, watching multiple games each Sunday during the season, not caring for e-sports whatsoever.* I don't see today's kids watching esports into their 40s.* We grow out of our interests in a lot of things, and I think esports is just another instance of that.* It's never going to "take over" any real sport,.

I hope you are right. I worry about our sporting options in the future. I seem to be far behind the curve, in that I am interested in football, baseball and hockey - two sports declining in popularity and one that never had it. While I do not understand the fun in watching eSports (or in watching any people play videogames), I also do not see the fun in watching golf, bowling, tennis, soccer, etc.