• by Alex Weprin , May 25, 2018

ESPN is bringing esports to its direct-to-consumer streaming service ESPN+. The service will add “League of Legends” gaming competitions beginning this summer.

The first competition to be streamed on the service will be the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, which begins June 16. The North American finals will be in September, with the world championship event to be held in South Korea later in the fall.

As with other sports on ESPN+, the programming will be ad-supported.

The deal is non-exclusive, meaning that other streaming services, such as Amazon-owned Twitch, will also be able to stream “League of Legends” games.

Nonetheless, it will be the first foray into esports for ESPN’s streaming app. Esports has been on the rise in recent years, driven by games like “Call of Duty” and “Fortnite,” as well as streaming advancements such as Twitch.