E-sports cities: a study on special legal problems connected with e-sports from the point of view of a local government

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Labeling video games (e-sport) as sports is a controversial topic. Proponents argue that e-sports are a fast-growing "non-traditional sport" which requires "careful planning, precise timing, and skillful execution". Others claim that sports involve physical fitness and physical training, and prefer to classify esports as a mind sport (e.g. like chess). E-sports is a discipline that is gaining increasing popularity in the contemporary world. The effect of the increasing popularity of this area is the rapid development of the e-sports market, as well as the development of numerous organizations involved in e-sports. The growing importance of e-sports means that it could become an important element in the development of smart cities in the near future. The study will also discuss the definition of e-sports in law, the possibilities of financing e-sports by local governments and the threats related to e-sports. Material and methods: The article will include the analysis of legal definiotion of -esport and legal regulations which enable financing e-sport by towns and municipalities from different countries (dogmatic-legal method and comparative law method). Moreover, the article will also describe what benefits local governments could obtain from financing e-sport (e.g. promotion). Basic results, conclusions: Electronic sports will soon become an important element in the structure of Smart City 4.0. Financing e-sports by local government units brings measurable marketing and social benefits although it also carries risks (e.g. doping, corruption, video-game addiction). The bounds between e-sports and local government not only include digitization or development of new technologies, but also promotion of the city and many law problems which local goverment should solve.