No, it is not the National Football League (NFL) Superbowl, or Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series or the National Basketball Association (NBA) FInals. Yet, it is amazing how online gaming has invaded homes and leapfrogged outdoor sports and other activities, now it is threatening to take the stadiums too.

The League of Legends 2014 World Championships held at Seoul, South Korea filled a World Cup-huge stadium which approximated attendees at more than 40,000. The Tournament's finale featured Samsung White from the host country and Star Horn Royal Club of China that saw the final pairing ending up in a 3-1 win for Samsung and netted them the $1 million USD prize.

The winning team which only lost twice during the whole tournament is composed of Hyeong-seok "Looper" Jang, In-kyu "Dandy" Choi, Won-seok "Pawn" Heo, Seung-bin "imp" Gu and Se-hyoung "Mata" Cho. This is also the second consecutive year that the Chinese based team, Star Horn Royal Club ended up as the runner to the eventual champions.

Growing in Popularity

League of Legends (LOL) is a team-based free online game that pits playable characters with the end goal of destroying each other's bases. There are reportedly around 27 million players all around the globe and that number is already rivaling the total of one of the most famous online game, Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) 2. The game was developed by Riot Games in Santa Monica, California and has taken off due to free play and the allure of strategic gaming.

While the game is free, the company is raking in revenue from the income generated from items that can be bought to accessorize characters. According to the latest report, the company realised a total revenue of US $600M last year alone, not including receipts from on-site games such as the one held in the South Korean stadium. To ramp up sales and attract players, a marketing specialist has revealed that players not only got to contest the US $1M prize pool but were paid by the company just to participate and were booked into fancy accommodations that provided rooms with computers where they can hone their skills.

"My company is very big in Korea but we aren't that big in the rest of the world," Mr Yoosang said. "Our strategy is to expand our brand image to other countries and we think e-sport is a good way to enhance our image."

With the number of hits the replays have garnered on Youtube, it is no wonder that the company is doing a good job of expanding its game reach. For now, watch the final game of the 2014 League of Legends between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club.

(Youtube/ LoL LCS Highlights KazaGameZ)