Counter-Strike: Global Offensive League Coming to TBS
TBS is going full-on into the world of esports, as Variety reveals that they’re going to air competitions of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive via a league of their own creation. With up to 20 events being aired throughout the year.
“This is a way to bring e-sports to light and the 90 million homes TBS is in,” said TBS president Lenny Daniels. “There’s no doubt in our mind that this is a sport – these are athletes… It’s competitive, and it requires endurance,” he said. “What hasn’t happened is that it hasn’t been exposed to a mainstream audience.”
Daniels also said working with an existing eSports league “didn’t make sense” with the companies’ resources but he did not reveal the dollar amount invested in the league. He did say contestants would be competing for “meaningful prize money.”
This isn’t the first time that esports have been on national television, G4 did it when it was on the air, and even ESPN2 did a run of showing off Heroes of the Storm, however, G4 is no longer around, and there was a lot of backlash in regards to what ESPN2 did, so much so that they likely won’t do it again. It appears TBS doesn’t have that fear.