What Happens When Real Sports Money Moves Into Video Game Sports?

The National Football League embarked on a tumultuous offseason before the playoffs even started, with three teams vying to move to Los Angeles and the league approving its first relocation in almost two decades. That was nothing compared with the upheaval taking place in a slightly less famous sports league, the League of Legends Championship Series. When the new season begins Saturday in the world’s most prominent venue for competitive video gaming, three of the 10 teams in the North American branch of LCS will be run by new owners, several existing teams will field entirely new rosters, and little about the landscape will remain untouched from 2015.

Let’s just say this up front: It's silly to compare LCS, where teams sell for about $1 million, to the a multibillion-dollar juggernaut in which a star such as Tom Brady makes that much for playing in just two regular-season games. But for those tempted to scoff at video game competitions, developments over recent months mark the arrival of big business—and veterans of pro sports industry—into the burgeoning world of e-sports. Among the new Legends owners are Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov, who also own a stake in the Sacramento Kings, as well as Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Steve Kaplan and former NBA star Rick Fox. These deep-pocketed newcomers have arrived on the scene in time to push this insular world into something that looks a lot more like traditional sports.