Yeah, some of the more recent attempts (especially out of blizzard, ironically), come out of companies going "Hey, the MBA/NFL is super financially successful,

Yeah, some of the more recent attempts (especially out of blizzard, ironically), come out of companies going "Hey, the MBA/NFL is super financially successful, we could be the MBA/NFL if this goes well, and since we have ultimate control of the game, we can even take a larger share than the central orgs for those sports", but without the grassroots support (even the NFL took decades to become large), it's only sustainable while they pour money in.