League of Legends becomes professional sport

Online game League of Legends has been officially classified a professional sport in the US, developer Riot Games has confirmed, allowing esports players from overseas to obtain working visas.

“The United States government recognises League of Legends pro players as professional athletes and awards visas to essentially work in the United States under that title,” said Riot Games esports manager Nick Allen in a Gamespot video interview.
“This is groundbreaking for esports.”
Allen added: “We can start looking at international players when they come over. It’s a much easier process because they’re actually recognised by the government.
“This was a lengthy process. We had a lot of people fighting for this. It wasn’t something that happened overnight.”
Last year League of Legends dev co-founder Brandon Beck said he believes esports will be an Olympic event in the future.
Former Fragdoll Morgan ‘Rhoulette’ Romine previously said the games industry must do more for pro gamers and esports.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.