The rise of eSports has been a quick one and major brands have begun to notice. The latest company and major brand to join the Esports reign is the NBA. Today, the National Basketball Association announced plans to partner with publisher Take-Two Interactive for an official NBA 2K esports league, which led NBA commissioner Adam Silver to deliver this memorable quote to the Wall Street Journal: “Think of eBulls against the eKnicks.”
So how will the league work? Silver explained that it will operate just like the NBA: It’ll have a regular season, a playoff bracket, and a finals matchup. Teams of five players, each with his (or her?) own custom NBA 2K characters, will compete in a five-month season that starts in 2018. There’ll even be a draft, Silver said, although he also noted to the Wall Street Journal that none of the 30 NBA teams have fully committed to this esports league yet.
Silver has said about half the teams will be involved in the first year. So what do you think of this idea? While I don’t think it’ll reach mainstream success it’s a total win for the NBA. They know how big eSports are and given the rise of gaming tournaments and video games provide actual income to those who play them, the sponsorship opportunities are endless here. While the NBA couldn’t really tap that much into the video game ad space too much with the exception of NBA2K, this should open a ton of new doors as well as revenue streams.
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