The business of sports tech, in brief.
The week of June 7–13 saw $66.2 million in esports prediction market contracts on Kalshi, and the story behind what drove that number was never really in doubt. Counter-Strike 2 was responsible for nearly two-thirds of all activity, with IEM Cologne at the epicentre of all esports trading activity…
New Orleans apparently isn’t big enough to accommodate Pokémon‘s rapid growth. After a wild three-year run of filling the Big Easy with thousands of cardboard-slinging, video-game-battling trainers, the tournament is packing up its bags. Starting in 2027, NAIC is officially moving to McCormick…
It looked like a massive Evo was coming this summer. Last year’s Evo Vegas was massive, with 8,541 unique registered competitors and 14,500 attendees. Then, Evo Japan earlier this year was even bigger, with 9,875 total participants. It was mostly for Street Fighter 6, but still. By all accounts, it…
Earlier this week, we published our initial piece looking at the headline figures from 1-7 June on prediction market operator Kalshi. This piece dives deeper, looking at the games that generated most interest; which games saw the most money and why. We’ve taken the ten largest Counter-Strike…
It’s been over 70 days since the conflict between the United States and Iran began, with fighting in the Middle East resulting in sharp increases in oil prices, damage to infrastructure, and the inability to access the internet. Before the conflict, Iran’s government focused on controlling its…
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7–9 p.m. PT. The event will stream on ESPN+/ESPN
Counter-Strike 2 accounted for nearly two-thirds of all esports prediction market volume on Kalshi this week, with League of Legends the clear second, and Valorant and Dota 2 both posting solid numbers. The data pulled is from 1-7 June 2026. Kalshi’s esports markets generated a total of $36.18…
Over the weekend, I couldn’t stop laughing at one specific moment of the 2026 College VALORANT (CVAL) Championship, organized by the Riot Scholastic Association of America (RSAA). And it’s because it brought back that chaos we’ve been missing from esports broadcasts the past few years. While…
There’s no simpler rivalry than a regional one, but after a decade of back-and-forth between North America and Europe – in particular, France – the RLCS Paris Major cemented that Rocket League came home. Born out of a tiny studio in the US that was workshopping some extra mini games to port into…
ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has unveiled a new partnership with TikTok to bring broadcast-native vertical livestreams to its esports tournaments worldwide. The partnership debuted at Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Atlanta,
2XKO is in a weird spot right now. It’s in the midst of the stage where it should be growing, with Evo Las Vegas and other big tournaments on the way and an esports scene forming with Riot’s help. On the other hand, Riot has laid off a chunk of the team, and the latest … Continued
With Counter-Strike’s esports scene gearing up for the PGL Astana playoffs and the Group Stage of IEM Atlanta, it’s an unusually quiet time for Valve’s first-person shooter despite two Tier 1 tournaments taking place. Despite the lack of tournament results and roster moves, there are some of the…
IEM Atlanta 2026 saw Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev slowly lose it. BC.Game Esports had a rough time at IEM Atlanta. Now, the relatively new team has been eliminated from the tournament after losing two matches. They didn’t win a single game. BC.Game was formed by a crypto company in 2024. A year…
Sigh. Another day, another creep in the Super Smash Bros. community. Team Liquid coach, commentator, and tournament organizer Ryan “L4st” Krichbaum has been banned from Smash events in Georgia after multiple people accused him of sexual assault. Is the Smash community doomed? Accusations Against…
The FGC was treated to a wild weekend courtesy of LVL UP EXPO 2026, which saw international players such as Goichi “GO1” Kishida, Shoji “Fenritti” Sho, and Doramigi fly in to prove themselves at Los Angeles. From Victor “Punk” Woodley’s Street Fighter 6 run to Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez…
I recently said we needed more events like Evo, and I meant it. The fighting game esports scene features multi-title events that bring the community together in a way that mainstream esports titles haven’t yet figured out. LVL UP EXPO just wrapped up over the weekend, another event that featured…
I’ve been one of the haters booing Evo‘s expansion. After Saudi Arabian company RTS took control of Evo and announced a bunch of tournaments, I was pretty bummed. Like Arslan Ash, I felt this would ruin the prestige of the cumulative event in Las Vegas. However, there is a lot of nuance in the…
Popular streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp, largely known for being good at League of Legends and being loud, announced that he was going to compete in Street Fighter 6 again, starting with Evo. And the FGC is angry. On stream, Tyler1 announced that he was going to Evo in Las Vegas (which he had to…
Sentinels has announced the signing of Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice to its 2026 VCT roster ahead of Stage 1 Americas. The North American organisation hasn’t officially announced who the Professor will replace on the team. However, considering Mirel ‘Kyu‘ Hrustemovic has Sentinels listed as one of his…
Former Call of Duty world champion Kenny ‘Kenny‘ Williams has opened up on his future plans following his recent departure from Los Angeles Thieves. After parting ways with the Call of Duty League (CDL) franchise in February, Kenny has expressed his interest in transitioning into a coaching role…
