Jackson Free Press

Tomorrow night on the TBS network, the world of e-sports comes into everyone’s living room. There might not be faster-growing sport organizations in the world than competitive video-game leagues.

In Asia, the players are already treated like rock stars. In 2014, more than 205 million people watched e-sports online, which has allowed for rapid growth in the industry. TV might be the last medium that e-sports has yet to take over.

TBS will broadcast “ELeague” on Friday, May 27, at 9 p.m. in an attempt to cash in on the big money associated with e-sports.

While most e-sports players are men, growing numbers of women are coming into leagues. Youth is another staple of e-sports. While that doesn’t mean that all players are young, there is a smaller chance of seeing a bunch of 35-year olds batting it out.

The “League of Legends” Championship is one of the biggest events in e-sports. “League of Legends” itself is a popular multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, and real-time strategy video game from Riot Games. In 2013, the tournament took place at the Staples Center, home of the LA Lakers and Clippers, and the venue sold out in a short amount of time.

Not only are people watching online, but they are also watching live in arenas and stadiums around the world. In the United States, the Super Bowl is the only sporting event that more people watch than the “League of Legends” Championship.

The prizes and salaries for top tournaments and players are also growing. In 2014, Chinese e-sports club NewBee won $5.03 million for winning the title for “Dota 2,” a MOBA from developer Valve.

Some top players earn salaries of about $65,000, not including bonuses or endorsements, though most teams do not disclose salaries.

ESPN has an e-sports page for the latest news in the industry, and colleges are even starting to get involved in e-sports, as well.

The Pac-12 is the first major college conference to jump on the e-sports bandwagon. Geographically, the Pac-12 makes perfect sense to be the first major conference in eSports.

Robert Morris University was the first American institution to offer scholarships for e-sports back in 2014. Miami University in Ohio started a varsity e-sports program this year. The Big 10 is starting to take steps into the e-sports world, as well.

It is not crazy for TBS to try to jump into a nontraditional sport. ESPN has done well with the World Series of Poker over the years. The “Worldwide Leader in Sports” has also televised the national spelling bee.

TBS might start a boom in e-sports, much like ESPN started a boom in poker during the early 2000s, as nearly every station tried to create its own poker program. The boom made several poker stars well known across the nation.

If TBS plays its cards right, the network could be at the front of next …

Below is a verbatim press release from Lt. Gov. Reeves supporting Gov. Phil Bryant's decision to join the lawsuit challenging Obama's transgender school bathrooms directive:

"Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves today commended Gov. Phil Bryant for joining a lawsuit challenging the federal directive to open bathrooms in Mississippi schools to both sexes.

“I appreciate Gov. Bryant representing Mississippi kids’ interest in this lawsuit fighting massive federal overreach into our communities,” Lt. Gov. Reeves said."