PLUGGED IN

Esports: An all female tournament announced

Esports: An all female tournament announced
Valve's CS:GO Logo

Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

It's been a crazy week in the world of esports.

Dreamhack has announced the Dreamhack Showdown at Dreamhack Valencia an all female CS:GO tournament in July. This is a massive and interesting development in the world of competitive gaming as this isn't an industry known for its inclusion. Last season there was only one professional female Overwatch player in the league and that was after the last place team replaced most of its roster in an effort to break its losing streak. There will be several qualifying events held in the build up to the July 5th through 7th event with a $100,000 prize pool at stake. May the best women win!

Riot Games has announced State Farm has signed a three year extension to stay on as a main sponsor and has even stepped up their participation to include global tournaments for the first time. Which is a big big deal for the League of Legends creators. They've been running a very successful league for awhile and building up momentum with sponsors for several years now and this is part of the natural growth and evolution of the League of Legends competitive scene. Many people speculate that fanbases will grow tired of these games at some point and the interest will peter out, but I would like to point out that Starcraft 2 is over ten years old and is still a staple of competitive gaming.

The last thing to mention this week is with the influx of money in esports comes the issue of protecting players and their rights. Audi and Gamestop have both recently announced their intention to get into gaming so there is money pouring in from every angle and the end result of all of that money is teams are signing players to contracts that make them the majority owners in the player's earnings with the intention of being a profitable business. That isn't the way other pro sports operate technically, collecting money from the players or only paying the player select amount of money from their winnings. The other leagues go the other way; they figure out what percentage of revenue should belong to the players and pay based on that number. In essence, the esports teams are working the problem from the opposite end, instead of giving the player everything they promise but base their promises on expected revenue, they are taking large percentages from the players to create a profit. This creates the atmosphere of disappointed players, they hear they won $10k but after the team takes their cut the player only receives $4k hypothetically. This kind of business model isn't going to last long.

Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
The Texans are the class of the division. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans received a lot of praise for their moves in free agency across various outlets. And for good reason, most people believe the team got significantly better with the additions of Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry among others.

But there's another factor to consider this offseason. How much have the other teams in the AFC South improved?

When looking at the PFF grades in free agency, the Colts received a B-minus. Most of the Colts moves this offseason involved spending a lot of money re-signing their own players. Which is great in theory, but it's hard to improve the overall quality of your roster when you're bringing back players that were already there to begin with. A lot will be riding on player development for the Colts to see a big jump this season. A healthy quarterback wouldn't hurt either.

The Jaguars have made some big additions financially this offseason by signing receiver Gabe Davis and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. They also lost the top receiver on the market, Calvin Ridley, to the Titans. Gabe Davis wasn't able to establish himself as a reliable No. 2 receiver with Josh Allen throwing him the ball in Buffalo. So it's hard to believe he'll take the next step in Jacksonville. Their best move of the offseason might have been retaining edge rusher Josh Allen by using the franchise tag on him. So what did PFF think of Jacksonville's offseason? They received a B-minus, just like the Colts.

The Titans have a lot of turnover heading into the 2024 season, and not just on the roster. They have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, who's looking to revamp Tennessee's offense. Early in free agency, they agreed to terms with former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, signing him to a 3-year deal at $8 million per season. Which is more money than the Ravens are paying for Derrick Henry, who left the Titans in free agency. Calvin Ridley was the most notable addition to the squad, he received a 4-year, $92 million deal. And while this could be viewed as an overpay, at least he gives the Titans' offense some upside. Their receiving corps looks a lot more dangerous with Ridley added to DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks.

They also spent big at the center position, adding Lloyd Cushenberry on a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Because the Titans spent a lot of money on some highly coveted players, PFF gave them a B.

Now that brings us to the Texans. The Texans re-signed some of their own players like Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. But they also made some big splashes with Hunter, Autry, Al-Shaair, and Joe Mixon. But the Texans spent their money in a more conservative way by not handing out many contracts over two years in length.

The Texans managed to add the best pass rusher in free agency with Hunter, but it's only a two-year deal. The overall talent level is going up on this roster, and GM Nick Caserio isn't having to sign players to long contracts that could come back and haunt him.

That's why we're seeing post-free agency power rankings coming out with Houston in the Top 10. And that's also why PFF gave the Texans an A for their moves in free agency.

Be sure to check out the video above as Craig from Sports Talk Extra takes an in-depth look at PFF's grades for the AFC South, and much more!

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome