You are right, esport fans can fill stadiums but there is a subtle difference to regular sports.
Riot Games (LoL) and Valve (Dota2) reliably compete with each other over the most price pool contributions in these large tournaments. I wanted to say, "this is $Corp pushing their product" but i have to correct it a little to " fostering their market".
Compare this with traditional soccer leagues and fan clubs and you wont find a big company hunting short term profits with short lifed products that threatens the whole scene.
Esports fans hardly fill stadiums, so there is no revenue on that side. On the other though, you have the full spectrum of online marketing to a very specific audience.
I think, esports is mainly driven by advertisement or behemoth companies that push their own games. I am not supprised that expenses got cut.
Riot Games (LoL) and Valve (Dota2) reliably compete with each other over the most price pool contributions in these large tournaments. I wanted to say, "this is $Corp pushing their product" but i have to correct it a little to " fostering their market".
Compare this with traditional soccer leagues and fan clubs and you wont find a big company hunting short term profits with short lifed products that threatens the whole scene.