Major League Gaming
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
| File:Mlg logo.jpg MLG logo, a video game controller with normal US sport red white and blue color. | |
| Sport | Electronic sports |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| President | Sundance Digiovanni |
| No. of teams | Halo 2: 250+ SSBM: 100+ RB6: TBA |
| Singles entrants | Halo 2: 1000+ SSBM: 200+ |
| Country |  Canada  United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | Halo 2: 4v4: Carbon, FFA: Censored |
| Official website | mlgpro.com |
Major League Gaming (MLG) is a professional American gaming league founded in 2002, dedicated to competition in console gaming. Its headquarters are in New York City.
Games in the MLG Pro Circuit
Games currently supported for all tournament play are Halo 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Gears of War, and Shadowrun.
Major League Gaming also held competitions for Tekken 5 but low turnout led to the discontinuation of that tournament in October 2005. In addition, tournaments were held for Gran Turismo 3 and Soul Calibur in the 2004 season, but these were also dropped, again due to low turnout.
Rainbow Six: Vegas was added in April, 2007, and was first played at Charlotte, the 2007 season opener. Gears of War was added in May, 2007, and was first played at Meadowlands, the second season event. Shadowrun was added in July, 2007, and was first played at Chicago, the fourth season event.
Players
Contracted Players
As of Late June , 2006 MLG offers over $1,000,000 in cash prizes[citation needed] and signed the former MLG leading four-man Halo 2 team, Final Boss (At time of signing, the official roster was Dave "Walshy" Walsh, Dan "Ogre 1" Ryan, Tom "Ogre 2" Ryan, and Ryan "Saiyan" Danford) to a $1 million contract, and Tsquared, one of the top individual pros in the MLG, to a $250,000 deal. On December 18, 2006 MLG signed the members of Carbon and the other three members of Str8 Rippin to a $250,000 deal. MLG has signed the members of its top three teams to a $250,000 dollar deal. And just recently, MLG signed the newest addition of team Final Boss, "Strongside" to a $250,000 contract. [1]As of June 2007 13 players have 250K contracts with MLG.
Major League Gaming in the Media
The league in the press
MLG was featured in the Wall Street Journal, noting that MLG has recently acquired $10 million in funding to help craft the league. [citation needed]
The league in television
In the seventh season of MTV's True Life series, an episode centred on MLG-contracted Halo 2 player, "Tsquared". The league and player, LiL Poison were mentioned on CBS's 60 Minutes in a story about professional gamer, Fatal1ty. [2] USA Network, currently America's #1 cable TV network[3], aired the first season of MLG Pro Circuit on Saturdays from November to December 2006. Voom of Dish Network satellite television provider is scheduled to show the first season in High-Definition during March 2007.[4]
Sponsorship
MLG, whose main sponsor is Gamestop, signed with sponsors Boost Mobile, Red Bull and Scion for the 2006 season.
Expansion to Canada
On June 19, 2007, MLG announced that they had expanded to Canada.