Reviewing My "2018 Sports Law Hot Topics to Watch" Predictions

Congratulations, y'all. We made it through 2018! Per our usual routine here on the Sports Law Blonde blog, let’s review the 2018 sports law hot topic predictions I made back in January to (a) see whether there has been any ground made, & (b) if not, speculate on why that might be the case. So, I straight up copy-and-pasted my previous blog post and added my new comments and wisdom at the end of each section in this type style.

LET'S DO THIS.

Per usual, I would like to make my predictions regarding what topics I believe will be extra sizzlin' in 2018, but I will do so in a slightly different way. Here are brief descriptions of what each topic is, some insight as to why I have it on my predictions list, and who you can pay attention to for the latest news, updates, and analysis throughout the upcoming year:

Reflecting on My "2017 Sports Law Hot Topics To Watch" Predictions

If Deflategate's courtroom battles placed "sports law" into mainstream conversation in 2015-2016, then 2017 gave sports law an entire fleet of those Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tubemen [Note: If you do not understand the reference, I encourage you to click the link.] As we step - no, run - into a new year embracing all the change that is more likely than not going to occur, I would like to put the past twelve months into perspective and reflect on what I predicted would be the sports law hot topics to watch in 2017, what happened and what did not, and see whether the topics attained some means of closure. All in all, I can proudly say that my umbrella picture that 2017 would be a continuation of prevalent sports law trends was pretty accurate.

5 Reasons Why the League of Legends 2017 World Championships Changes Better Achieve "Competitive Balance"

Last Tuesday, Riot hosted and livestreamed the 2017 Worlds Group Draw Pulls for its monstrously popular video game League of Legends to fill in the tournament bracket and see who will be playing who in China from September 24 to November 4. The League Championship Series (LCS) is comprised of 13 regions - based geographically - so that teams from all regions compete in Worlds across the stages. Here are the LCS regions:

Antitrust, Jaime, eSportsJaime MiettinenSeptember 19, 2017Riot, league of legends, esports, 2017 Worlds, NA LCS, LCSComment

Why I Changed My Mind & Believe eSports is a Sport, Part 4: The Argument

Everything from Parts 1, 2, and 3 come together here and now. Heck, maybe I have even convinced you already that eSports is positively a "sport" merely by exposing you to the basics of this relatively new activity that is still in its infancy. Let's dive into the nitty gritty argument, though, because this is what us lawyers like to do. Plus, I genuinely believe that every sports fan should be open to learning about eSports and hear this out:

Jaime, eSportsJaime MiettinenMarch 1, 2017esports, cloud 9Comment

Why I Changed My Mind & Believe eSports is a Sport, Part 3: The eSports Structure

Here we go with Part 3 in this four-part argumentative series. The eSports competition structure is quite different from traditional sports, though there are certainly parallels that raise it to an equivalent level. In my opinion, I believe that traditional sports could actually learn something from the eSports structure. So, to illustrate the last bit of facts before advancing my argument as to why eSports is a sport by applying facts to the definition's elements, I will break it down into two pieces: (1) the league structure, and (2) the overall business structure.

Jaime, eSportsJaime MiettinenFebruary 25, 2017esports, league of legends, counter-strike, Riot, Valve, TwitchComment

Why I Changed My Mind & Believe eSports Is A Sport, Part 2: The Games

As promised, Part 2 & Part 3 in this series outline facts about eSports and the community across the globe. There is a lot of information I could relay here, but I will break it up into two parts to ease you into this side of the debate. eSports is more than meets the eye on the surface. A particular type of game demonstrates that, as you will see below:

What is eSports?

In general terms, eSports is competitive video gaming. There are single-player games in addition to multiplayer games, there are teams for the multiplayer games, and there are different game consoles players can use (e.g., Xbox, desktop computer). Players and viewers come from both genders, though the ratio is terribly lopsided. Most notably, the variety of game structures can be categorized into a few genres so that players know what to expect from the game and can master a particular type of game..