It is a big day for the eSports community in the United States. In a surprising move League of Legend professionals are now recognized as professional athletes by the United States and will now be granted athlete visas to participated in tournaments around the world.

Riot Games eSports manager Nick Allen described the battle for the recognition as professional athletes was  a "lengthy process" as Riot Games had to provide evidence that League of Legends was a legitimate sport.

This was a lengthy process; we had a lot of people fighting for this. It wasn’t something that happened overnight.

Allen described the recognition as a monumental moment for eSports.

This is groundbreaking for eSports; now we can start looking at international players when they come over. It’s a much easier process because they’re actually recognized by the government. This is a huge thing.

The news come just in time for the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship held on October 4 in Los Angeles, California at Staples Center.