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February 13, 2019

eSports Market: NBA 2K League Announces New Apparel Partnership, Draft Date

The apparel deal with Champion (asi/59528) highlights the growing opportunity for branded merchandise sales in the expanding eSports niche.

By  John Corrigan

The NBA 2K League – an eSports basketball league -- has announced a new partnership with Champion (asi/59528), which will now provide the league’s uniforms, warm-ups, travel and practice apparel. Plus, in-game avatars will be outfitted in Champion-branded uniforms. The manufacturer is also providing apparel for the NBA 2K League Draft Clash, in-season tournaments, and the NBA 2K League Finals. The Champion-branded merchandise is now available for purchase at Champion.com.

“The need for eSports apparel is quickly evolving and Champion is pleased to be an integral part of this historical opportunity,” said Champion Group President of Global Activewear Jon Ram. “Being the official outfitters for the NBA 2K League is an exciting and pivotal opportunity for Champion to continue our evolution and expansion to outfit teams within the eSports and traditional sports communities. Together we can push the boundaries and bring eSports to a wider audience.”

Meanwhile, NBA 2K League – run by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. – announced this week that its second draft will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on March 5. The draft will begin at 5 p.m. EST and will be live-streamed on the league's Twitch channel, Forbes reported.

It’s all part of the eSports industry – a form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions that include professional teams, live streaming play and diehard fans packed into large sports arenas. Millions of viewers – predominantly male, typically between the ages of 14 to 30 – follow eSports franchises like Fortnite Battle Royale, League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone and Call of Duty.

Despite still being in its infancy, the eSports industry has high-paying salaries, million-dollar contracts and heavy hitters from the professional sports world, such as Robert and Jonathan Kraft of the New England Patriots, Stan Kroenke of the Los Angeles Rams, and Steve Kaplan of the Memphis Grizzlies. Goldman Sachs predicts eSports revenue will climb to $3 billion by 2022. The market is ripe for distributors to capitalize on, with ample opportunities for promotional products, branded merchandise and marketing strategies.

The NBA entered eSports last year with 17 teams competing in its league, all owned and operated by a corresponding NBA franchise. Gamers qualified for the league by being at least 18 years old, owning NBA 2K18 on either Playstation 4 or Xbox One, and winning 50 games in NBA 2K18’s Pro-Am mode. After qualifying, the players participated in a three-weak combine – the top 102 players out of the 72,000 who qualified were then drafted.

This year’s season will include four new expansion teams: T-Wolves Gaming, Lakers Gaming, Hawks Talon GC, and Nets Gaming Crew. The draft-eligible pool will consist of the players who qualified during this year’s combine, non-retained players from the first season and players the league added to the pool from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Invitational in Hong Kong.