ARLINGTON, Texas — A sports venue in Arlington on Friday night was expected to draw hundreds of fans. But probably not the sport you'd expect.
"They grew up playing these games just like kids grow up playing basketball and they look up to these people that are very good," said Johnathon Angres of Esports Stadium Arlington.
On Friday night, fans will show up not to play video games but rather to watch a live feed of professionals going to battle in a virtual world.
Esports Stadium Arlington calls itself the largest dedicated Esports facility in North America. It's a relatively new industry that's recently gone mainstream. So much so that colleges across the country, even right here in North Texas, are offering scholarships to gamers they same way they do for student-athletes.
"It's getting to the point where which colleges don't have a varsity program or are at least looking into one. It's getting pretty large," Angers said.
A sport that's proving lucrative for it's top competitors. Take superstar Richard Belvin, who goes by the name "Ninja".
"Ninja's making a million dollars a month playing Fortnite," Angers said. "A million dollars a month, yes. That is not an over-exaggeration that is pretty accurate."
You may not understand how or why, but it's OK. Jackson Hyde, a 6th grader from Mansfield who's a lifelong gamer, is here to clarify.
"However many people watch them they get monetization, which is the money that they earn," Hyde said.
A future in the world of gaming is just one of the many career paths he's considering. For Hyde, it's just not that complicated.
"It's a pretty easy career. Like, you just need to get a bunch of cameras, set up what you're going to do and then just start broadcasting it and posting it on the internet and people will watch it and you'll get money from it," he said.
This venue is expected to host some 700 people, and several hundred thousand more are predicted to watch the stream online.
Makes perfect sense. Right?