The International 2014 To Be Broadcast Via ESPN

[Omnomnick]

Today, Valve announced a new partnership with sports network ESPN which will see The International 2014 tournament broadcast live on the company's multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. Additional content will be available on ESPN2 on Sunday evening as the grand finale moves closer.

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All four days of the main event will be broadcast live on ESPN3, a channel accessible online via WatchESPN.com, the WatchESPN tablet app, and television streaming services such as Apple TV, Xbox Live, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV. On Sunday evening at 8:30pm PDT, a special broadcast on ESPN2 will feature a preview of the tournament's grand final, special player interviews, and an exclusive talk with Gabe Newell.

While ESPN as a sports network is usually more focused on Major League Baseball, the NFL, and the NBA, Valve's Erik Johnson believes this new shift comes as a response to eSports, such as Dota 2, becoming more widely recognised as "traditional" sports with true mainstream appeal.

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. 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.

- Erik Johnson​

As the event with the biggest prize pool in history, it feels fitting that The International will become one of the few eSporting events to be broadcast live on a mainstream sporting network, and it's definitely a step in the right direction for the eSporting scene as a whole. Don't forget, you can also spectate the entire event live within the DotaTV client or via Valve's livestreams on TwitchTV and the Dota 2 website.