The rising popularity of esports is undeniable, and while some see it as a passing trend, others are seizing the (surprisingly lucrative) opportunity. Turner Broadcasting announced that it has teamed up with the talent agency WME|IMG to build a televised esports league based around the popular first-person-shooter Counter Strike: Global Offensive from Valve.

The league, which will start airing on TBS sometime in 2016, will invite the best Counter Strike teams from across the world to participate in two 10-week long seasons competing against each other. There is no confirmed date for when the league will start airing, but it is expected to be a Friday night event for TBS.

TBS has been the home of the MLB post-season and March Madness for some time now, and Turner also hosts the NBA on TNT, so they are no stranger to live sports. Their esports league will not only be televised competitions — the deal also means coverage of side-programming that highlights specific players and teams, as well as the history of both the game and the competitive gaming world.

This will not be the first time that an esports competition has made its way to television. Back in June, the finals of Blizzard’s Heroes Of The Dorm competition, in which teams battled it out through Heroes Of The Storm for a college-tuition-prize, aired on ESPN2. The event was not very well received by fans of the channel, so we can only hope that esports will find a more inviting audience on TBS.

Would you tune in to watch a Counter Strike league? Let us know in the comments below.

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HT: DailyDot

Featured Image: Valve Software