The US government declares professional League of Legends gamers as athletes

It's official. The US government has now declared that being a professional League of Legends gamer makes you an athlete. Riot eSports manager, Nick Allen, when speaking with GameSpot, said:

The United States government recognizes League of Legends pro players as professional athletes, and awards Visas to essentially work in the United States under that title. So this is groundbreaking for eSports. Now when [international players] come over, it's a much easier process because they are actually recognized by the government. It's a huge thing.

Riot reportedly had to fight very hard to get to this point, using all of their micro to get here. Considering the amount of work some of these League of Legends gamers put themselves through, they deserve it. Great news for LoL fans today.