Hundreds of thousands of people watched. Hundreds of thousands bought the Compendium. Millions of dollars were collected. With The International 4 now over, eSports’ richest prize — over $10 million this year — seemed to legitimize overnight what was once a hobby.
The total was divided up among the entered teams, with $5,028,308 going to the championship winning team, Newbee, and $1,005,661 to its five individual members.
That’s a LOT of money! But how does that compare to other sports & events? Is it really that much? Where does it rank?
Below you’ll find a list we’ve compiled of the biggest prizes in sports, along with the “per player” total. For just its fourth year, we feel The International did pretty well. We’ve broken down the championship total and the individual prizes within, and it’s worth noting that the total purse for The International 4 was on par with many other events:
Tournament – Sport (Total Purse | Team Total | Per Player)
- The International – Dota 2 ($10,931,105 | $5,028,308 | $1,005,661)
- US Open 2013 – Tennis ($32,204,000 | $2,600,000 | $2,600,000)
- 2014 The Players Championship – Golf ($10,000,000 | $1,800,000 | $1,800,000)
- 2014 Wimbledon – Tennis ($25,000,000 | $3,004,962 | $3,004,962)
- 2014 Kentucky Derby – Horse racing ($2,202,800 | $1,417,800 | $1,417,800)
- 2014 Dubai World Cup – Horse Racing ($27,250,000 | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000)
- 2013 World Series of Poker ($59,708,800 | $8,361,570 | $8,361,570)
- 2014 MLB World Series – Baseball ($62,683,966| $22,566,228 | $307,322)
- 2014 Super Bowl – Football ($8,700,000 | $5,800,000 | $92,000)
- 2014 NBA Finals – Basketball ($14,ooo,ooo | $4,104,811 | about $273,654)
- 2014 World Cup – Soccer ($576,000,000 | $35,000,000 | $407,000 and all of their country’s praise and love)
- 2012 Mayweather – Cotto – Boxing ($45,000,000 for Floyd Mayweather through guarantees and promotion)
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