While we shopped for ugly sweaters, we sent Paola Alejandra out to the Game Awards to talk to gaming and esports' biggest stars, including SonicFox, Pokimane, SSSniperWolf, and OWL commissioner Nate Nanzer. After that, Pao took a red-eye over to Vegas and reports live from Black Ops 4's first major offline tournament, CWL Las Vegas.
Then later, we talk to two esports titans - first, it's CLG COO and esports veteran Nick Allen about his journey in the industry and how he's defining CLG by the organization's trademark persistence. After that, it's triple-threat CEO of Immortals, MIBR, and LA Valiant Noah Whinston on how he's managed to assemble such a killer roster and the importance of finding passion in things other than esports. And finally - you didn't think we forgot about Smash Ultimate's release, did you? Resident Smash expert Zane takes on the rest of the Cheddar Sports team - 1v3.
The blockchain has made its way into a slew of industries. Next at bat ー the sports world. The Los Angeles Dodgers are moving away from traditional promotions and have begun using crypto tokens to give away digital bobbleheads to fans. Ralph Esquibel, VP of information technology for the team, said this is the first giveaway of its kind and could lead to more experiments with cryptocurrencies.
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Naz Aletaha, head of esports partnerships for Riot Games, said that the "priceless" experiences with new global sponsor Mastercard will start with the world championships in October, offering premium content and behind the scenes access to the biggest event for esports lovers.
Mastercard, seeing a market opening in the skyrocketing popularity of esports, signed a deal to become first global sponsor for Riot Games' "League of Legends." Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer for Mastercard, said the company will become exclusive payment service provider for the game. The deal represents the largest mainstream sponsorship thus far in the esports world.
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As the online gaming world continues to boom, professional sports organizations are working to marry the online and physical sports world. Hugh Weber, president of the New Jersey Devils, said that there is a way for live esports events to be compelling enough to translate to ticket sales.
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Chris Raybon, senior editor at The Action Network, breaks down the best bets for sports fans heading into Week 2 of the NFL Season.
The company's recent growth on the back of a newly invigorated gaming segment is only the beginning, according to president and CEO Bracken Darrell. He said in an interview on Cheddar that esports could become "the biggest sport in the world," and Logitech will be there as its top hardware provider.
If you had any lingering doubts that eSports had gone mainstream, they would have been erased when the North American League of Legends Summer Split took over the Oracle Arena ー home to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Cheddar was there for the last stop before the World Championships in South Korea next month.
