As many of you know a few arena teams such as "The Fighting Moongoses" and "ZERG IT DOWN" have gotten sponsorships from various companies, some as well-known as "Subway". The introduction to "Professional WoW Teams and Players" seems to have finally come.

Other games such as "Counter-Strike" and "Unreal Tournament" have both had ladders, live and online tournaments, and virtual "celebrities". Many actually live off of their winnings as a primary source of income like any other baseball or football player.

With the upcoming arrival of Warhammer Online and a slew of other "3rd Generation" games (WoW is 2nd gen) do you believe that this could be one of the defining factors that will keep a large base of players? (Just like Counter-Strike even with extremely dated graphics and intricacy still has Tens of thousands of serious players.)

I for one am excited about this new professional age of World of Warcraft and hope that I could one day be part of it. How about you?

see also: WoW Sponsorship

Yeah, just bump that thread if you feel there's really something new to discuss. Most of it has been said, though.