The sports industry now looks increasingly close to esports. Misfits Gaming Group recently announced cooperation with two famous basketball clubs from the NBA, the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. The collaboration of three similar organizations based in Florida was formed with the aim of building further opportunities, both in the endemic or non-endemic realms, through the collaboration referred to by the Misfits Gaming Group as the Partnership Rights Deal.
This collaboration will also involve two NBA 2K esports teams belonging to the basketball club, namely Heat Check Gaming and Magic Gaming. So in this collaboration, Misfits Gaming Group will get access to NBA colleagues and their audiences. Instead, MGG will help the two NBA clubs to expand into other global esports. Esports Insider said this included looking for opportunities for the two NBA clubs to integrate into the Overwatch, Call of Duty and League of Legends ecosystems, “meaningfully and naturally.”
Currently, Misfits Gaming holds licenses for 3 major league esports franchises in the United States. They are the organization behind the Florida Mayhem team in the Overwatch League, the Florida Mutineers in the Call of Duty League, and are participants of the League of Legends European Championship.
Related to this cooperation, Lagen Nash SVP of Partnerships Misfits Gaming Group said. “The Miami Heat and Orlando Magic are innovators in the realm of sports, and we are very proud to be able to expand our relationship, and begin the first year of this strategic partnership. This collaboration will combine the best NBA teams and large esports franchise from Florida, to bring each other knowledge specialization to the markets of each ecosystem, and enhance the image of esports in Florida.
Furthermore Glen Oskin, Vice President of Corporate Partnership from the Miami Heat added. We have been partners with MGG since the early stages and are very proud to see it develop into one of the top caste esports franchises. This collaboration, including with Orlando Magic, allows MGG and our colleagues to be able to see the overall state of the Florida sports and sports business. On the other hand, this also allows the NBA franchise from Florida to expand into the realm of esports. This is a win-win situation for all of us. “
This collaboration is arguably the umpteenth time a sports team has established a relationship with an esports organization. Previously there was also FaZe Clan who was in a relationship with Manchester City for Co-Branding cooperation. In addition there is also Paris Saint-Germain, which several times tried to enter esports by cooperating with local organizations. The French soccer club took the RRQ to enter the MLBB ecosystem in February 2020, and also took Talon Esports to enter the League of Legends Asia Pacific in June 2020.
