BUMP!
Rather than make a new thread, I thought I'd share this here:
US visa bureau says 'League of Legends' is a professional sport | The Verge
Quote:
High-level League of Legends players can now be awarded the same visas as more traditional pro athletes, says publisher Riot Games. On July 11th, Riot e-sports manager Nick Allen told GameSpot that the company had convinced US immigration services to recognize League of Legends as a professional sport and simplify the visa process accordingly; the first person to benefit will be Canadian player Danny "Shiphtur" Le, who was temporarily unable to compete this spring because of work permit problems. E-sports VP Dustin Beck later confirmed the change to Polygon. "This is a watershed moment," he said. "It validates e-sports as a sport. Now we have the same designation as the NBA or NHL or other professional sports leagues."
The change, Beck said, could let non-American players join US teams: "It's like David Beckham coming to LA Galaxy." He said convincing US Immigration and Citizenship Services to offer players pro sports visas was "a long process" that hinged on proving League of Legends can offer people the chance to make a living as professionals. "A lot of people have been dismissive of it because they don't understand the scope of this," he said. "Our viewership numbers are stronger than 80 or 90 percent of the sports covered on ESPN."
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Now granted, right now this is only for one sport and one scene, not all professionally played games, but the article is right that this is a watershed for eSports.
I will also note that while Starcraft 2 might be considered next in line for this kind of thing, its unlikely - not because SC2 isn't worthy (Most would agree that its professional players are as if not more dedicated and hardworking than the League community) - Its simply that there is no pressing reason for players to want to live and work in the USA, if those players play Starcraft 2. Why?
The reason is that the SC2 competitive scene revolves almost entirely around Korea and Europe - The North American scene isn't as strong and so the palyers wouldn't seek to move TO there, but rather FROM there, to join larger and more prestigious organisations elsewhere. In contrast, the League of Legends community is much more NA focused, and so they will have lobbied for this much more fiercely for the benefit of their players.