For those not aware, it is a part of the gaming industry that continues to grow as fast paced as the industry as a whole. Millions of dollars are spent by gamers to play, and millions of dollars are given out as prize money in events all over the world. And this isn’t just limited to one major league, it spans across over a dozen gaming leagues, covering dozens of countries and sending gamers traveling in order to chase fame and fortune by clicking faster than the next guy (or girl). There are some celebrities in the gaming world, as well, with some pro-gamers gaining notoriety on 60 Minutes, ESPN and other major news outlets that caters to an audience outside of the normal gaming group. But just how many people are interested in the cyber-sport?

At the Fan Expo in Toronto we spoke to Eric Michalko of Insight Sports, an organization that represents a few sports-based groups such as Major League Gaming (MLG) Canada. With the spectacle of the event overshadowing a lot of the surrounding booths and fanfare, we wanted to get a better idea of just how the league was expanding in terms of an audience. This was the second year of MLG Canada, and the first time that a MLG Pro Circuit had been held in the country. “We’ve got about 300 Canadians pro-gamers at this tournament and 600 American players.” Michalko told us over the shouting during a Halo 3 amateur match taking place beside us. “We even have ESPN here filming, since this is going to be a part of the Pro Circuit.”

MLG had recently signed a deal with USA Network and G4 TV in the US. The big change for the coverage of the sport, however, was their signing to air their Pro Circuit exclusively online with ESPN.com at the beginning of 2008. All the interviews, matches, stats and scores would be hosted by the US Sports Broadcasting giant, and it seems to have paid dividends for the organization. The first event broadcast on ESPN.com as part of the Pro Circuit was in Meadowlands, NJ drew an audience of 750,000 live streams, with an average viewing time of 80 minutes, meaning people were doing a little more than just casually browsing. The next event in San Diego, CA brought an even larger audience of 1.4 million, and the third event in Orlando increased that number to 1.8 million.

“We think that we could get the biggest audience yet with this event.”

Although the numbers haven’t been released at this point, based on the amount of people that attended the event, as well as information released by MLG so far, it seems that the Pro Circuit is poised to continue its success. With gaming continuing to enter the public space on a deeper level, it’s no surprise that the audience is growing, but for an event that was previously felt to be the exclusive domain of the hardcore, it is astounding to think of the audience that the broadcasts are gathering. Although, at this point, the amount of unique visitors is limited to 360,000 over the full three days of the last event (Orlando), this is just one of the many gaming leagues in the world that is taking advantage of the enthusiasm and competitiveness that thrives in the industry. In Canada alone, MLG pointed out that 6.7 million Canadians are engaging in some form of video gaming, and 7 out of every 10 Canadian households have some kind of entertainment system that they can use to play video games.

With $20,000 being delivered to the winner of the Halo 3 tournament at the Toronto event, and $4,000 given to the winners of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Gears of War, the amount of people sitting in the stands doesn’t seem to be the only group set to increase as time goes on. With more and more amateur spots being opened up in these tours, the pro-gaming circuit seems to be more than welcoming to those looking to make an attempt at their 15 minutes and a few thousand dollars. If only it were that easy.