In a July 17, 2014 press release by Valve, it has been confirmed that the 'International Dota 2 Championships' tournament will be broadcast on ESPN Networks. The current prize pool for the tournament sits at a little over $10.8 million, which might provide reason as to why ESPN would cover an eSport event.

The press release offered information concerning the time and the individual ESPN networks set to broadcast the event, "The International Dota 2 Championships will be presented in collaboration with ESPN on its live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. In addition, an exclusive show previewing the final match will be presented on ESPN2 on Sunday at 8:30 pm Pacific. Live access to ESPN2 is also available on digital platforms via WatchESPN."

Currently the 2014 Dota 2 International holds the record for the largest eSports prize in history, and astonishingly enough, it broke the record when it crossed the $5 Million mark.

Dota 2 is an increasingly popular MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game with a large multinational community and professional "eSports" base, suitable for annual tournaments which have been consistently recognized for their incredibly generous prize pools.

Click the following link to see just how much the pool has grown: Link

Erik Johnson of Valve provides insight into the growth of competitive gaming, eSports, and how the ESPN broadcast is monumental, "From the success of the Compendium to the collaboration with ESPN, this year's International really demonstrates how much competitive gaming has grown to rival traditional sports," adding, "We believe the teams have also pushed to a new level of play this year and will further demonstrate the incredible advances made across this tournament since it first began three short years ago."

The first tournament was held in Cologne, Germany in 2011, the grand prize for that tournament was $1 million.