In a press release by Valve Corporation, it has been announce that ESPN will be providing broadcasting coverage for the main event of The International 2014. Starting at today 18:00 Central European Summer Time, the Dota 2 championships will be broadcasted online through ESPN3. Additionally, an extended broadcast will be televised on ESPN2, featuring an overview with highlights from the event thus far, as well as player insights and an interview with Valve's founder and managing director, Gabe Newell. With an over 10.8 million USD prize pool, a large number of online streams, in-game viewership, tournament attendance and now ESPN coverage, The International 2014 is set to become the largest tournament in the history of esports.

The main broadcaster for the event, ESPN3, is an online streaming platform that is intended to provide coverage about global sporting events to an international audience. The typical sports covered by ESPN3 include, but are not limited to FIFA, American football, basketball and ice hockey. ESPN2 is a cable and satellite broadcaster that traces its roots to providing coverage for more obscure sports, such as professional poker, but has gradually shifted its focus to more mainstream coverage.

While ESPN providing coverage for esports is uncommon, it is not unheard on. In 2007, ESPN published an article about Major League Gaming, with a particular emphasis upon the Halo scene. A year later, MLG announced a partnership with ESPN, which entailed coverage of their tournaments. This platform called "ESPN Video Games" was eventually transformed into an arcade service. In 2009, the first event of the MLG World of Warcraft season was broadcast by ESPN. More recently, ESPN has broadcast game highlights from League of Legends. The coverage for the main event of The International, however, will be the most extensive broadcast for esports ESPN will have provided in its long history.


Source: Steam News, ESPN, SK Gaming (1, 2, 3)