President of ESPN — the station that popularized TV poker — says e-sports aren’t sports

In 2003, cable-sports network ESPN turned playing cards into a television phenomenon with its comprehensive coverage of the World Series of Poker. In 2014, the president of ESPN voiced his hesitation about e-sports because he doesn’t think they are sports.

John Skipper, the big boss over at ESPN, spoke with website Recode as part of the tech site’s conference on media. When asked to give his thoughts about the massive Web retailer Amazon plunking down $970 million in cash to purchase the gameplay video-streaming site Twitch, Skipper was quick to dismiss Dota 2, League of Legends, and the rest of the e-sports scene that draws massive viewership on Twitch and other sites.