E-sports league getting collectable trading cards

For generations, sports fans have collected trading cards featuring their favorite players in baseball, basketball and other sports. Now Upper Deck is coming out with trading cards featuring players and teams from a professional video game league, the Overwatch League.
It will mark the first time an esports league has had trading cards, according to a May 13 news release touting the deal.
“Overwatch League fans will now be able to buy, open, collect, and trade cards with other collectors across the globe through Upper Deck e-Pack, the patent-pending platform that allows fans to easily access trading card packs from anywhere in the world using a smart phone, tablet, or computer,” the news release said. “What makes the e-Pack system truly unique is the ability for users to get actual physical versions of cards sent directly to them at any time.”
The first Overwatch League-licensed trading card set will release on June 19.
Upper Deck cards have featured the world’s greatest athletes, including Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods and more. Are esports players in the same class? Many people don’t even consider esports to be a legitimate sport.
I think it’s premature to put esports players on collectable cards. The Overwatch League only finished its inaugural season last year.
Meanwhile, one sport that could benefit from trading cards is the Legends Football League. The women’s football league, which got its start as the Lingerie Football League in 2009, has been promising trading cards since at least March 2011.
However, to my knowledge, the LFL has never come out with any physical trading cards. It has produced digital images of what the face of the cards would look like. But nothing yet for fans and collectors.

Photo: The first Overwatch League-licensed trading card set will release online on June 19 and will showcase fan-favorite players and teams from the league’s inaugural season. (PR Newswire)