TV giants put $50M into an esports league — two seasons later it was off the air

Announced on 8 January 2007, the Championship Gaming Series was television's bet on esports: owned and operated by DirecTV with BSkyB and STAR TV, financed by more than US$50 million from News Corporation across a planned five years. It built 18 city franchises from Carolina Core to Seoul Jinhwa, Wuhan Dragon and Singapore Sword, paid players starting salaries of $30,000 for a two-month season shoot, and offered $5 million of prize money in the first year, shooting Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA, Dead or Alive 4 and racing games for broadcast.

The cost structure was traditional sports television — franchises, salaries, studio production — before esports audiences paid for television. Season two in 2008 expanded the franchise map further, adding Dubai Mirage and Kuala Lumpur Taufan; the expansion consumed a significant portion of the $50 million commitment just as the global economy turned.

On 18–19 November 2008 the partners announced the league was shutting down after two seasons: sponsorships and broadcast revenue had never covered the costs. 'Profitability was too far in the future for us to sustain operations in the interim,' the organisation said. 'The economics just didn't add up.' The five-year plan ended in year two.