Definitely! whilst Its clear that viewership is very strong, the growth and income speak for themselves too, especially in the East, with countries like South Korea & China being crowned the kings of Esports in many games across the board the money has always been huge there.
The East being on top for so long has definitely inspired western regions like Europe & North America to spend massive amounts of money to chase that same level of success.
Just like traditional sports, teams have to spend money to make money, with million’s being spent on players, equipment and facilities every year.
Its a pricey process getting into modern Esports, but the pay off is easy to see with organisations like TSM (Valued at $410 Million), Cloud9 (Valued at $350 Million) & Team Liquid (Valued at $310 Million) climbing the forbs list. (And that’s just in North America!)
Its clear there’s more to be gained here than just playing games and getting views, and teams that spotted that early and capitalised on it are definitely reaping the benefits.