April 27th, 2015 
Mark Following comments from ESPN president John Skipper last year that competitive gaming is not a sport (but rather a competition), the sports giant on Sunday evening aired two hours of gaming programming on ESPN 2. And the response was…enthusiastic to say the least.
ESPN 2 broadcast the championship round of Blizzard’s “Heroes of the Dorm” event, a collegiate tournament for the developer’s free-to-play MOBA Heroes of the Storm.
The event took place in primetime, competing against the NBA playoffs and Major League Baseball, among other traditional professional sporting events.
The Heroes of the Dorm Grand Finals saw teams from Arizona State University and the University of California at Berkeley compete for a chance to win tuition money. The Golden Bears of UC Berkeley ended up winning.
As you might have guessed, people had a lot of things to say about it–some praised ESPN while others said games have no place on the network. Check out some of the mountains of tweets below, which include comments from fans, and even some ESPN personalities and sports writers.
This isn’t the first time ESPN has aired video game programming, as the network also broadcast footage from the DOTA 2 tournament The International last year. What do you think of ESPN getting into gaming content? Let us know in the comments below.
Heroes of the Storm enters open beta on May 19, while the release date for the full game is June 2.
ESPN 2 aired a video game tourny last night, the best part was all of the people realizing that they are not alone on this planet. #aliens
— Candace Miller (@VampireKitten) April 27, 2015
Still trying to figure out what was on ESPN 2 last night
— Jacob Thomas (@jm101912) April 27, 2015
Ever since watching ESPN 2 last night, part of me wants to play that Heroes game
— Chuck Sturrup (@Chuckiesturrup) April 27, 2015
Are people going to assume gaming is a sport now just because it was on ESPN 2?
— Patrick. (@Hydra_eXs) April 27, 2015
I wake up to see Video Games being shown on ESPN 2. Just saying, I was 120-0 on NCAA Football 2004 in college
— Jim Scroggs (@JHScroggs) April 27, 2015
This whole ESPN 2 thing is shining a light on a whole new breed of idiot.
— /\idan (@SPR1NTINGturtel) April 27, 2015
cant believe ESPN 2 is airing League of Legends gaming right now lmfaoooo
— Sean O’Hare (@S_E_A_N_I_E__O) April 27, 2015
Was there NOTHING scheduled to air on ESPN2? No way a video game tournament was option No. 1, right?
— Tyler Batiste (@TyBatiste) April 27, 2015
Turned on ESPN2 for 60 seconds just to experience it. Video games on TV is ridiculously stupid. And who is Arizona University?
— Jimmy Durkin (@Jimmy_Durkin) April 27, 2015
Today “Heroes of The Dorm”, tomorrow #madden and @NBA2K. Let’s make this happen @espn
— Robert Flores (@RoFloESPN) April 27, 2015
Heroes of the Dorm – I have never been so proud. Go Pac12, no truck stops here. Just reporting the facts
— Bill Walton (@BillWalton) April 27, 2015
I took the bait. Just turned on ESPN 2. As someone whose face appears daily on the channel, I don’t have answers. #LeeroyJenkins #chicken
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) April 27, 2015
I’m loving the cautious approach by both teams. A lot of twirling and shooting and stuff. The mines could prove disastrous.
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) April 27, 2015
No joke, these announcers are killing it. I don’t have a damn clue what I’m watching, but they won’t let me leave.
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) April 27, 2015
Sky Temple is next? Color me intrigued. #HeroesOfTheDorm
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) April 27, 2015
I have to say I am impressed that the gaming scene #esports made it to national tv on #espn2 last night. Esports count as a real sport.
— Jesse Howell (@Dual_Flesh) April 27, 2015
girl: “bae come over” me: “cant, video games are on ESPN 2” girl: “but i am home alone” me: “and?”
— Adam Berner (@i_bern_em) April 27, 2015
Not a video game guy but if you put a Goldeneye or Mario Kart competition on ESPN2 I’m all over that
— Zach Bloxham (@zbloxham) April 27, 2015
Posted in 