Riot has just released their numbers for the 2017 year, and if there was ever a doubt that it wasn’t the biggest esport out there, they’ve been put to rest. Over 57 million unique visitors tuned in to the finals, up 14 million from last year. That’s a 30% increase in viewership in one year, and the largest spike Riot has seen yet.

This is usually the part where League is compared to a real sport for that ‘wow’ factor. Like by saying that LoL’s Worlds tournament had nearly triple the viewership of the NBA finals and had more than the NBA finals and World Series combined. And, according to Riot, their peak viewership number was actually 80 million, not 57 million. Those aren’t Superbowl numbers yet, but they are getting close.

However, many of these numbers are without context. Last year, Riot said that they had 14 million concurrent viewers but 43 million unique visitors, which begs the question if concurrent viewers is the actual number that should be compared to the NBA finals. Unfortunately, Riot didn’t release concurrent viewers for Worlds this year, only for Rift Rivals, another international tournament, which did bring in an impressive 8 million concurrent viewers. Dick measuring aside, it is a lot of people, and it’s the prime reason that ESPN and other sources have stepped into the esport game. No matter which way you slice it, esports are on the rise, even if the numbers are further from or closer to 100 million.

Interestingly, the prize pool for Worlds this year was significantly smaller, both in Riot’s contribution and in the fan contribution. The prize pool for Worlds in 2017 was almost $2 million less than it was in 2016, $4.9 million compared to $6.7 million. This may be due to Riot’s matching of contributions by fans, so that when one was smaller so was the other. It could also be that the scope of 2017 was much, much larger than in any other year. Insider sources have cited the World cup replica – which stood nearly three stories tall – cost in excess of $200,000. This is in addition to the cost of the musical talent and performers as well as the Augmented Reality Elder Dragon which took Riot nearly four months to create.

With the money pouring in from the NA LCS enfranchisement, it is almost a guarantee that next year’s Worlds will be even larger. If the numerous sports owners now involved get their way as well, the viewership for League of Legends should increase across the board, and with the teams now having millions of dollars available in resources, the promotion for 2018 Worlds is likely going to be on an unprecedented scale.

Also, C9’s Sneaky is killing it. 2016 he had the highest CS at 690, and in 2017 he had the highest damage per minute at 1781. Let’s shoot for the triple, Sneaky!