Turner Sports Entering Esports Industry with Their Own CS:GO League

American TV network Turner is by far one of the biggest networks in the country. They currently own some of the most popular TV channels in the United States like CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network or TNT.

Turner Sports, on the other hand, is a branch of that company that deals with the broadcast and analysis of some of the world’s most popular sports such as NBA, MLB, UEFA Champions League, or NASCAR. It seems that Turner Sports was not satisfied with having broadcasting rights for so many sporting events because they are now even entering the esports market by launching their own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league called ELEAGUE.

Brand New Studio & Approach

The introduction of the ELEAGUE was a huge spectacle for Turner Sports because they introduced a completely new studio for esports coverage like the one used for the coverage of NBA league, for example. The ELEAGUE was played last year as well, but this year it was taken to completely new heights.

Last year, the prize pool for the ELEAGUE was more than 2 million dollars, and it is expected that the brand new edition of the ELEAGUE will feature even bigger prize pool. With bigger prize pool come better teams that would participate in the event and with better teams, the number of fans is getting bigger and bigger, and consequently, ELEAGUE will be growing from one year to another.

Besides broadcasting esports events from all over the world, Turner Sports will be creating their own original content, and because of that, they have brought in some of the most popular faces in esports such as Sue ‘smix’ Lee and the legend Richard Lewis. Last year, even before Turner Sports became involved in this way in ELEAGUE, more than 2 million people were watching broadcasting and content on TBS that broadcasted those events. With the new coverage and the improved broadcasting service, Turner Sports will have more than 2 million people tuning in to see the latest news in esports industry and to watch live coverage of esports events.

Big Name Sponsors

Unlike some other broadcasting or streaming services or any other company involved in the world of esports, the ELEAGUE is bringing in already established and companies that are already present and known to wide audience as sponsors. Snickers, Buffalo Wild Wings, Arby’s and many other, so to say, mainstream companies are coming in as sponsors of the ELEAGUE this season.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports competitions have for several years been some of the most popular events in the world of esports. Because of that, it is no wonder that a company like Turner or Turner Sports decided to move on to the esports industry.

Even though Turner Sports still has a long way to go before they reach the status currently enjoyed by some other broadcasting or streaming services like Twitch. However, this will be yet another confirmation of how esports is doing in the real world and how many people are actually following the events. By making esports coverage looking like the coverage of standard sports that the audience has grown accustomed to, Turner Sports is aiming at completely new target audience with their coverage.