Canadian Lawyer

www.canadianlawyermag.com 53 sponsor athletes to multi-million-dollar deals are putting esports influencers on the same level. It's not a trend contained to the sports arena either — Louis Vuitton is designing the trophy and dressing the gamers for the League of Legends championship. "Even a year ago, that would have been unheard of," Bruno says. "It's igniting a chain reaction across all clients from banks to other non-traditional clients you wouldn't peg as esports investors. It's becoming more mainstream." Esports is also gaining a kind of recogni- tion that didn't exist before among the gen- eral population or within the business com- munity — it is no longer seen as something teenagers do alone in their parents' base- ments. Elements of it are being integrated into a variety of popular activities — a good example is Intel's esports tournament to be held before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — and connections with it are being sought by all kinds of parties. There's a FIFA eWorld Cup and an NBA 2K eSports league, celebri- ties are increasingly becoming a part of the scene and major companies such as Coke, Red Bull, Gillette and Mercedes-Benz have become involved. "Prominent sports leagues, major brands and businesses and notable public person- alities are all realizing the value in backing esports," Czegledy says. Since gaming is what the younger gener- ation spends its time doing, lawyers are pre- dicting that there will be new examples of how esports is going to play out in terms of public market sectors and the legal world. While the demographic that is most into gaming skews young, it is widening to include both younger and older gamers. As the largest cohort grows into teenagers and young adults with more disposable income, it's expected new com- panies will pop up that cater to their needs. Parents are also playing these games with The NFL lost viewership for the first time in years, and major league baseball has been on a slow decline for a while. If you ask a 12-year-old what sports they're interested in following, they'll probably say Fortnite. If you ask them what athlete they're watching, they'll probably say Ninja, AKA Richard Blevins, a popular American professional gamer who recently signed a deal with Adidas. Traditionally, nobody would have thought Adidas would be involved in this space, but, increasingly, major brands that historically KEY LEGAL ISSUES IN ESPORTS 1. CLASS ACTION Montreal law firm Calex Légal in October requested authorization from the Quebec Superior Court to launch a class action lawsuit against popular video game Fortnite's creator Epic Games Inc. on behalf of the parents of two minors aged 10 and 15. It argues that the game causes the release of the chemical dopamine, similar to how cocaine effects the brain, and encourages dependency on playing. The notice alleges that the game was originally developed with the help of psychologists to purposefully make it addictive. The suit takes much of its legal basis from a Superior Court ruling in 2015 that said tobacco companies have a duty to inform consumers that their products are dangerous. 2. ONLINE GAMBLING The Criminal Code of Canada technically prohibits single event sports betting, but in the U.S. in 2018, many states adopted bills that permit it, which has brought about the expectation that Canada will follow suit and betting on esports will move into the mainstream. Because many of the people involved in esports are below the legal age for gambling, this brings up a host of new legal issues when it comes to minors and online betting. 3. PLAYER CONTRACTS Many contracts are being deemed oppressive to the gamer. Unlike most other traditional sports at elite levels, there is no players' union in esports yet. Another complication is that many of the gamers being signed to contracts are minors at the height of their success. Canada, unlike some states in the U.S. such as California or New York, doesn't have an established process to get contracts with minors approved by the courts, which means the enforceability of contracts against minors is an issue here.

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