eSports

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October 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO - HBO's Real Sports Covers First Scholarship eSports Team in the US

October 19, 2014



Last year, HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel aired a segment about the rising popularity of eSports, and debated whether or not games like League of Legends qualify as a real sport. The show and co-host Soledad O’Brien will revisit the subject in its next episode, with a segment about Robert Morris University in Chicago, where eSports has become the school's newest varsity sport and the first scholarship eSports team in the country.

The episode will debut on October 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

Real Sports is returning to the subject of eSports just as the Samsung White team won a million dollars in the League of Legends 2014 World Championship. The event was held in the World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, which sold out its 40,000 seats, and was also broadcasted in select theaters around North America.

"I believe in my lifetime eSports will be part of the Olympic Games," CEO and Co-Founder of League of Legends developer Riot Games Brandon Beck said in a press conference at the event, though he clarified that this is his prediction, not a goal.

In September, ESPN's president John Skipper said games like League of Legends and Dota 2 aren't a sport, but ESPN 3, the cable television network's online branch, continues broadcasting eSports events, including this latest League of Legends World Championship.