It’s not a stretch to say that esports are becoming more and more popular. More proof is the fact that the country of German has now made motions to recognize esports as an official sport.
A contract (or Koalitionspapier) has been published by the German CDU and SPD parties that moves to recognize esports as a regular sport. This would grant it the same rights and support as any other official sport in Germany. In other words, it would provide professional esports players with more travel freedoms when needed for their sport. Esports would also be included in official sports promotion in Germany. This most likely means channels like ESPN would be more likely to carry esports programs/news. Esports being recognized officially in Germany would also mean the country would push for Olympic level esports.
The president of the Esport Bund Deutschland group said that this is a major step forward for esports and its players in Germany. If this contract is adopted by the German government, it would allow for much better local support, as well as better international opportunities to participate in esports. Of course, neither the CDU or the SPD have officially chosen to go through with this contract yet. But the understanding is that they most likely will. We’ll have to wait and see for official confirmation!