League of Legends Gamer Granted US Visa Recognizing Him as Professional Athlete

Following quickly on the heels of last month’s announcement by the US Immigration that League of Legends would now be recognized as a professional sport, Danny “Shiphtur” Le has now be come the first official denizen to receive a visa making him an instant “Internationally recognized” athlete.

This is not bad news at all for Canadian native Le, who can now travel to the United States to train for an upcoming event here in the US of A. E-Sports are continually getting bigger and more recognizable around the world as a professional sport and are obviously not just a “hobby” anymore.

The World cup championships will be here in October and this new “status” will allow for Le to be able to train way ahead of time. This is a very serious event for players around the world who will compete for $1 Million in prizes and show their mad skills in the game.

This new move by the US immigration will put e-sports on the same level playing field as other pro American teams and allow our teams to remain competitive the world around. Many players on American athletic teams hail from other countries so this being the new “Status Quo” for official e-gamers as well. To be competitive you need to have the best players on your team and having the world to choose from opens up many more player options.

Although other players in the past have been granted a Visa in the past for single events, Le however is the first to be getting a paycheck in the deal. The entire deal of getting the visa bureau to recognize gaming, as a legitimate sport was an uphill battle to say the least and a lot of time and effort was put into making this happen. “We had to get endorsements from participants and prove that this is a consistent, viable career path and people can make a living playing games,” Riot Games VP Dustin Beck told Polygon last month.

While other e-sport leagues can now apply to get this same consideration essentially the groundwork has been laid for others to walk upon, and history has been made. Danny Le told the La Times recently that this event was “Kind of so big-actually kind of mind blowing” and hell who can blame him as he will now have a solid place in gaming history. Personally I think this is really cool news and gives gamers some solid goals and a way to make a living at what they love, gaming!  The next time your parents or teachers tell you games are a waste of time just tell them that gaming, just may one day pay the bills.

Source: The Verge