The Miami Heat has made the NBA playoffs in 20 of the last 23 years by building a winning culture. The team's chief marketing officer Michael McCullough said the Heat plans to bring that same championship mentality to eSports.
The NBA is making a bet on eSports, a multiplayer video-game tournament in which players are sponsored by actual teams, in the hope the league can recruit new fans.
Earlier this month, the NBA 2K league held its first-ever draft at Madison Square Garden. Seventeen NBA teams, including the Miami Heat, selected the top video-game ballers to compete in a basketball video-game championship.
McCullough said the Heat acquired a stake in the eSports organization Misfits to "bridge the gap between the 2K fan and the traditional Heat fan."
The NBA 2K league tips off May 1, in the middle of the actual NBA playoffs.
The Heat is tied 1-1 in an Eastern Conference first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. McCullough said the key to winning championships is believing in the idea that 15 players win championships, not 1 or 2.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/when-esports-and-real-sports-collide).
The WNBA and its union announced a tentative eight-year labor deal Tuesday that will allow top players to earn more than $500,000 while the average annual compensation will surpass six figures for the first time.
Here are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, January 14, 2020.
In bringing esports to the big screen, IMAX President Megan Colligan said the company is trying to find new ways to make the most of movie theaters at times when ticket sales generally lag.
Here are the headlines you Need 2 know for Friday, January 10, 2020
Six-time NBA All-Star Paul George is promoting his Nike PG4s — and he says the new collaboration is different from any other sneaker that fans have seen on the court.
Even though TeamFight Tactics was initially released as a League of Legends game mode, it has become so much more. And is now a staple within the autobattler genre. Inven Global's Esports Journalist Tom Matthiesen joined us to give us a review of 2019 as well his thoughts for TFT's 2020 future.
Despite expanding into music festivals and other notable entertainment venues, Satisfi co-founder and CEO Don White says that sports remain the company's number one priority.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, January 6, 2020.
Former NBA commissioner David Stern, who died on New Year's Day, carved out his professional legacy by turning the league, and the sport of basketball, into a massive commercial success. But the hard-nosed executive also left behind lasting social impact with the decisions he made over the course of his three-decade tenure at the top, remembers David Levy, former president of the Brooklyn Nets and a friend of Stern.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said the company was looking to achieve three objectives: acquire SBTech, raise capital to fund launching in new states for sports betting, and go public.
