Major stick and ball sports are "postponed for the foreseeable future, if not canceled completely, leaving playing video games -- and watching others play them -- as two of the limited choices left to sate our social and entertainment thirst," according to Jorge Castillo of the L.A. TIMES. More than 150 million Americans "identify as gamers, and not just the influencers who have become wealthy stars." Esports were "built for the quarantine culture," and with hundreds of millions now "shut in for the time being, an already robust community senses an opportunity." This "could be esports’ moment." Dignitas Chief of Staff Ryan Friedman said, "With the cancellation of traditional sports, a lot of people who would have never given esports a chance are going to start at least looking into it and that’s a good opportunity for esports to draw in a bunch of new viewers." Esports had "several major events on the calendar canceled, but most entities have been able to continue competition knowing an amplified audience is available." Twitch has set "all-time highs this month in peak daily active users (22.7 million), average concurrent viewers (1.6 million), and number of streamers (65,000)." In recent weeks, traditional sports entities like NASCAR also have "turned to the virtual world" (L.A. TIMES, 3/30). In N.Y., Kevin Liles wrote under the header, "Online, Virtual Games Escape The New Reality" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/30).
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