I see your point and i understand the good this is doing for these players but as a sports fan I don't want to wake up in the morning and see League of Legends highlights on sportscenter (I understand that this most likely won't happen but if more and more games become "sports" and the community for these games becomes large and vocal enough than ESPN will have to atleast give them some sort of acknowledgement) . Maybe I'm just a little stuck in my ways but I don't want to see this happen.
But the point is a gamer isn't an athlete they are a gamer just as an athlete is not a gamer. We put labels on things to make them easy to understand, we call milk a beverage and not a food because its not a food, we may ingest them both for energy but it doesn't make them the same thing . We dont call a cheeseburger a beverage because it's not a beverage, it's a food. While videogames and sports both entertain us and require skill they are not the same thing. I'm not questioning the talent and effort it takes to be a pro gamer, I'm just saying that they are different things.
I feel like they should be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty and I in no way feel any remorse for these people but I do see where Amaury is coming from and think they should at least get a chance at parole after 10 to 20 years because they are so young and still have so much of their life ahead of them.