Championship matches in League of Legends, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, and VALORANT esports received major recognition from the Emmys.
Multiple esports series have been nominated for an Emmy. Specifically, the 2025 Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Championship, Call of Duty League (CDL) Championship Weekend, League of Legends (LoL) Worlds 2025 Final, and the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2025 Grand Final have been recognized for outstanding esports coverage.
Esports at the Emmy Awards
The 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards has revealed its nominees with esports featured in the lineup. The nominations include championship events from 2025 across Apex Legends, League of Legends, Call of Duty, and VALORANT. According to the nomination rules, Outstanding Esports Championship Coverage is one of the program categories at the show.
The eligible entries aired between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025 and had to be focused specifically on championship and final events. Submissions were either live or edited productions and primarily showcased gameplay, player plus audience reactions, and live-to-tape contributions from hosts and analysts. Judging, meanwhile, was based on the quality of broadcast coverage and presentation as opposed to the esports title itself.
The Emmys esports nominees
- ALGS 2025 (ESL FACEIT Group)
- CDL Championship Weekend 2025: OpTic Texas vs Vancouver Surge (ESL FACEIT Group)
- LoL Worlds 2025: T1 vs KT Rolster (Riot Games)
- VCT 2025 Grand Final: NRG vs Fnatic (Riot Games)
The rules also revealed the statue-eligible roles such as executive producer, producer, director, associate producer, associate director, stage manager, editor, researcher, highlight supervisor, news editor, content associate, play-by-play, event analyst, and sideline reporter.
Where to watch the 2026 Emmys
The 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards will kick off on May 26 at 4 p.m. PT via the show’s official website.
Esports and the Sports Emmys
This isn’t the first time that esports has been acknowledged by the Sports Emmy Awards. Last year, the nominees for Outstanding Esports Championship Coverage included the 2024 CDL Championship Weekend, Dota 2 Championships, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Cologne 2024, LoL Worlds 2024, and the VCT 2024 Grand Final. In the end, the VCT 2024 Grand Final match featuring Edward Gaming duking it out against Team Heretics won the award.
That’s all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.