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).
Alex Garfield re-enters esports, Cloud9 pulls off a miracle, Rocket League executes a win, and Z-Event raises 1 million euros. Featuring ESL SVP Brand Partnerships Paul Brewer, VP Pro Gaming Michal "Carmac" Blicharz, and Former MLB Professional Pitcher Jim Hoey V of Logitech G
SonixFox wins IPS 2 and donates 10k, the Game Award Nominees, Pokemon Let's Go, and big changes to Overwatch and Fortnite. Featuring NYXL Head of Business Development and Events Ben "MrBitter" Nichol, ReKTGlobal Esports VP Kevin Knocke, Cameron Davis, and Astro Gaming's Thadeous Cooper.
League of Legends World Championship, the Overwatch World Cup, and Serral's incredible victory at Blizzcon. Featuring
Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood, Aziz "Hax$" Al-Yami, and Kelsey Moser.
Amazon is reportedly looking to expand its foothold in live programming, with an eye on the 22 regional sports networks that Disney must spin off as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. For Amazon, it would be the extension of a grand strategy that has been both simple and consistent: drive more Prime subscriptions.
PlayVS, a start-up created to build an infrastructure for high school esports, has announced a new Series B funding round of $30.5 million, led by Elysian Park Ventures, a firm that operates on behalf of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The new funding will also bring in new investments from Adidas, Samsung NEXT, and Plexo Capital, and angel investors include Sean “Diddy” Combs.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 19, 2018.
Mike Sepso is a gilded name in esports. His latest win? The senior VP of Activision Blizzard was recently appointed a strategic partner of Overwatch team league New York Excelsior. And he also happens to be the leader of Major League Gaming, which he founded with partner Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002. But before he assumed his throne, Sepso conceived MLG during a single lazy summer when he and his partner were basking in the glory of their previous company, Gotham Broadband.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 16, 2018.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Super Bowl Champion Darrell Revis is now the face of online bookmaker PointsBet's digital sportsbook, launching later this month. Revis and PointsBet CEO Johnny Aitken told Cheddar how they're trying to educate consumers about legal sports betting.
