The world of esports is fast becoming a mainstream form of competition and entertainment. While there is debate over whether esports should be recognized as a sport, the emergence of competitive video gaming has seen a rise in many of the problems associated with traditional sport including: doping, gambling-related match-fixing and non-gambling related corruption. Indeed, the esports gambling market has quickly surpassed the total legal sports wagering market in the United States, including daily fantasy sports. This paper examines esports growth and the evolving integrity challenges being faced by players, tournament organizers, gamblers, sponsors, politicians, and fans. Esports, like traditional sports, faces both internal and external corruption-related threats. Internal threats facing competitive video gaming include the use of performance-enhancing drugs and match-fixing. The industry also faces external pressure from a large gambling industry that exists in both regulated and unregulated markets. The entire esports ecosystem is now facing increased scrutiny from various
Competitive video gaming is rapidly gaining mainstream attention. Major U.S. television networks have commenced broadcasting such competitions. The term esports has been assigned to the practice, but it remains to be seen whether lawmakers and regulators agree that the contests are indeed sports. This paper provides a comprehensive examination, analysis, and application of the tests that have previously been used to determine whether an activity is a sport. We illustrate potential streams of litigation, some of which are specific to activities classified as sport. The emergence of esports in the United States has highlighted the absence of a legal definition of sport. Be it the newest form of sport or not, esports afford a glimpse to the future of creative competition, business innovation, and the related legal, policy, and litigation implications emerging alongside this new (sporting or otherwise competitive) activity.
While the growth of esports is undeniable, access, inclusivity, and diversity within this space is reminiscent of U.S. pre-Title IX traditional sport environments. As such, recent calls for the inclusion of esports within the traditional sport management literature have been persuasive. The esports industry is largely male dominated, as women and girls represent a lower proportion of participants, fans, and employees. While the proportions are staggering, the underrepresentation of women and girls in the esports industry has not been fully explored. In order to investigate this underrepresentation, 10 women esports competitors, content creators, and executives advanced our understanding of both the career experiences and career obstacles they encounter including (1) breaking the glass monitor, (2) toxic "geek" masculinity, (3) hostile sport environments, and (4) "mental" (e.g., grit). This investigation utilized a generic, qualitative approach with semistructured interviews and employed an inductive thematic-analysis process to uncover the experiences of women employees in the esports industry. This will serve as the first qualitative study in sport management that examines the career experiences of elite-level women gamers and executives. As such, the major contributions are the identified obstacles that women have faced in their rise to elite level careers within this space.
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