The way that is written, it really sounds misleading to me.

Dota2's $25+ million prize pools are virtually entitely crowdfunded from the fans. Yesterday, a commonplace tournament wrapped up giving the winners $300K and a new Mercedes.

The article mentions Esports viewership is about to surpass pro sports, yet pro sports have massive government funding and support from elementary school up through stadium construction. They are further entrenched in monopolistic competition through cable TV and regulatory laws. So then is esports really the artificial bubble industry, and not pro sports?

Further, Esports has been linked with positive externalities such as cognitive benefits--high IQ development--while some of the pro sports are literally the opposite, being linked with CTE and other neurological destruction. Shouldn't public funding change, then?

It's probably not a bubble, but also I don't accept the argument that esports are better. Excluding football and boxing (brain trauma), I haven't seen anyone destroy their careers over really enjoying playing physical sports. I do, however, know plenty of classmates and younger kids who are addicted to games like Dota or League of Legends, both of which are staple esports games.

If I had to choose a sport for my kid to have delusions of being able to go professional, I wouldn't pick esports, despite myself playing many of those games.

The intelligence argument is weak at best. Among other things linked with an increase in intelligence: a good night's rest and regular physical exercise. I will give you the hand eye coordination point though.

Ultimately, esports should be treated as exactly what pro (physical) sports are: entertainment, best in moderation.

> I haven't seen anyone destroy their careers over really enjoying playing physical sports.

If you blow out your knees before the age of 22 due to playing competitive team sports, you're probably not working on your feet for a living.

If you get carpal tunnel in your twenties your career will likely be affected as well

Any sport ("e-" or not), playing professionally on a high level, will put immense strain on your body and mind. Pick your poison.

Not just sports, other careers like musicians suffer from the same.

American football and boxing cause very real brain damage, but the extent to which other sports do is not well understood, and could be underestimated. Crossing faces and headbuts do happen in wrestling. Soccer also allows strikes to the ball with the head, which are thought to be unsafe.

>So then is esports really the artificial bubble industry, and not pro sports?

I'm not totally convinced it isn't. Franchise valuations and player salaries have been increasing at a very fast pace, all of which are propped up by television revenue. Should TV subscription numbers drop (as many predict they will), I'm not sure they can recapture that lost revenue.

It's not going to be a killer, likely, since they have other revenue streams such as merchandising, ticket sales, etc. But with many teams signing large, multi year deals just to stay competitive, I could see it causing a number of very painful years. It would not surprise me at all if at least one of the major professional leagues contracted sometime within the next decade.