????就連全美橄欖球聯(lián)盟也開(kāi)始關(guān)注電子競(jìng)技了。圣路易斯公羊隊(duì)的進(jìn)攻內(nèi)鋒羅杰?薩福德就是一名熱心玩家，他還參加了2013年在阿納海姆市舉辦的MLG電競(jìng)比賽。由于非常醉心于電子競(jìng)技，他甚至買(mǎi)下了《使命的召喚：幽靈》的Rise Nation Gaming戰(zhàn)隊(duì)。這支戰(zhàn)隊(duì)也正是幾個(gè)月前剛剛參加了奧斯汀X-Games邀請(qǐng)賽的八支戰(zhàn)隊(duì)之一，此前該戰(zhàn)隊(duì)還參加了美國(guó)動(dòng)視（Activision）和Xbox在洛杉磯舉辦的《使命的召喚》冠軍賽，這場(chǎng)比賽的獎(jiǎng)金為100萬(wàn)美元。

????薩福特最近與公羊隊(duì)簽訂了一份五年3170萬(wàn)美元的續(xù)約合同。他表示：“直到去年，我還一點(diǎn)不了解電子競(jìng)技，我就是非常喜歡《使命的召喚》，而且總是在網(wǎng)上玩這個(gè)游戲。我喜歡耀武揚(yáng)威的感覺(jué)，于是我買(mǎi)下了這支戰(zhàn)隊(duì)。終于我能以第一視角看所有東西，而不是通過(guò)一塊電腦屏幕。電競(jìng)對(duì)這些孩子也是好事，它說(shuō)明玩網(wǎng)游現(xiàn)在也能賺錢(qián)了，并非總是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間?！?/p>

????對(duì)于大贊助商們來(lái)說(shuō)，電子競(jìng)技絕對(duì)不是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。英特爾公司（Intel）贊助電子競(jìng)技已經(jīng)有十年的歷史了。全球電競(jìng)賽事英特爾極限大師賽的負(fù)責(zé)人喬治?吳表示，英特爾之所以贊助電競(jìng)比賽，就是要建立一個(gè)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)平臺(tái)，在線上和線下推廣它的游戲處理器，使其成為游戲愛(ài)好者青睞和推薦的品牌，并且推動(dòng)對(duì)旗下所有游戲產(chǎn)品的購(gòu)買(mǎi)意圖。

????喬治?吳表示：“到現(xiàn)場(chǎng)觀看英特爾極限大師賽的觀眾已經(jīng)增長(zhǎng)了10倍，觀眾們?yōu)榱速I(mǎi)一張門(mén)票不得不排起長(zhǎng)隊(duì)。而在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上，這項(xiàng)賽事的觀眾已經(jīng)增長(zhǎng)了100倍，現(xiàn)在觀看一場(chǎng)比賽的視頻直播觀眾，要比以往一個(gè)賽季的觀眾都多?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????Even the NFL has taken notice of eSports. St. Louis Rams offensive lineman Rodger Saffold is an avid gamer who attended his first MLG competition in Anaheim in 2013. He liked eSports so much he bought Call of Duty Ghosts team Rise Nation Gaming, which was one of the teams that competed at X-Games Austin a few months after the Activision and Xbox $1 Million Call of Duty Championship in Los Angeles.

????“I didn’t even know about eSports until last year, but I just enjoyed playing Call of Duty so much, and I was always online,” said Saffold, who recently signed a five-year, $31.7 million contract extension with the Rams. “I love the bragging rights. And now here I am. I finally see everything for the first time from a first-person view instead of on a computer screen. It’s all good for these kids. It shows that video games can bring you some money now. It’s not always a waste of time.”

????ESports is definitely not a waste of time for big sponsors. Intel has been sponsoring eSports for over 10 years now. George Woo, who heads up the Intel Extreme Masters global eSports tournament, said the company entered the space to establish a marketing platform to promote its gaming processor online and offline to make it the preferred and recommended processor brand by enthusiasts and to drive purchase intent for all of its gaming products.

????“Attendance to Intel Extreme Masters events has grown 10X with us filling up sport stadiums, where we have visitors lining up to get a seat to watch the competition,” said Woo. “Online it has grown 100X, where we now get more viewers watching livestreams for a single event than we’d have tune in for an entire season in the past.”