Ninja on the cover of ESPN Sports Magazine

With esports becoming a larger platform for viewers, do you think that we will get to a point where people will pay money to go to a stadium and watch professional gamers face off on the jumbotron? Maybe even buy merch or apparel of favorite athletes/gamers?

Yes, this is a possible future for sports.

I do think this is possible, based on the streaming numbers of some of the big streamers and the revenue/number of merchandise they are currently selling, I do think that there will be at least a possibility of the selling out of stadiums for live gaming tournaments.

Part of this already happens now. There's no reason it won't continue to grow especially with some games having their own tournaments with qualifiers all over the world.

JonB

This already happens. Universities have gaming arenas and thousands of people gather every year to watch eSports.

Possible?  It's already happening at major venues around the world.  In the US, Staples Center and Barclays Center (and TD Garden, Key Arena, and other venues) have completely sold out for esports events, and the avg. ticket price meets or exceeds many premium traditional sports content.  In Asia and elsewhere, this happens with greater frequency.  Further, these live events are complemented by massive distribution on both OTT platforms (Twitch, ESPN+)
and even linear cable (DisneyXD, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Turner).  

Great topic to discuss, but not much of a debate!