League of Legends Beats Out Traditional Sports to Win an Emmy
Popular PC game League of Legends has achieved another major milestone in its illustrious history, continuing to build upon its highly successful foundation.
Publisher Riot Games was awarded for Outstanding Live Graphic Design at the 39th annual Sports Emmys being held at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Sports Emmys is an awards show in which the National Academy of Arts and Sciences honors sports broadcasters with Emmy Awards for their coverage of the 2017-2018 sports season.
Sports Emmy awards are usually given for the coverage of traditional sports, however League of Legends won one as an esport.
The award for Outstanding Live Graphic Design was given to Riot Games for the spectacular job they did with the opening ceremony at the 2017 League of Legends World Championship final.
In addition to an extensive array of musical and dance performances, the broadcast of the ceremony featured an impressive, augmented reality dragon that flew around the stadium and onto the stage.
Ariel Horn, Global Executive Producer at Riot Games, dedicated the Sports Emmy to the League of Legends esport’s massive fan-base.
Thanks so much #lolesports fans. This Emmy is for you! https://t.co/VyWMF0uPve
— Ariel Horn (@ArielHorn) May 9, 2018
The fact that an esport was able to claim a major award that is normally reserved for traditional sports is a telling sign that the two are becoming further integrated with each other.
There have been rumors that esports can feature in the Olympics in the near future, and it should not be considered a coincidence that Horn formerly worked as an executive for NBC Sports in their coverage of the Olympics.
