The debate over whether esports are really sports is becoming moot. Today, the Overwatch League announced that it had sold more than 20,000 tickets for the league’s Grand Finals to be played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at the end of July. In comparison, the average attendance for a Nets game last season was 15,376 and for the Islanders only pulled in 12,002. (Although the arena’s NBA franchise admittedly finished 13th in the Eastern Conference, and its NHL team finished seventh in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division.)
“We knew the Overwatch League had amazing, enthusiastic fans, but this is something else,” said Nate Nanzer, Overwatch League commissioner, in a statement.