Image: Twitch
If you’ve heard of esports, you might also be familiar with “sports,” a spinoff of esports that people somehow play without computers. Twitch, which made its name on esports, has recently become
very interested in these un-electronic sports and seems to really hope they’ll catch on.
It began in July of last year, when Twitch launched a dedicated sports category alongside content partnerships with four major soccer clubs. But even before that, inertia was already on Twitch’s side, with stars from sports like baseball, basketball, football, F1 Racing, wrestling, and MMA broadcasting video games and other activities on the livestreaming platform — some of them attracting large audiences, especially during the pandemic. Twitch has also dabbled in airing sports broadcasts over the years, sans a dedicated category, and players have participated in Twitch-hosted events like the Streamer Bowl, an annual