Miami Heat invest in esports with Misfits
NBA franchise the Miami Heat have acquired stake in multigame esports organization Misfits, the two parties announced Tuesday. With the investment, the Heat will assist in managerial duties around the brand, including a new rebrand to match the Heat colors, marketing, brand promotion and sponsorship.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The Miami Heat pride ourselves on being innovative in all aspects of sports and business," Heat chief executive officer Nick Arison said in a news release. "For us, it made perfect sense to partner with Misfits, a young and ambitious franchise in a sport that is blazing a trail in terms of 21st century recreational competition amongst Millennials."
The Heat are the second NBA franchise to fully integrate into an esports team. In September, the Philadelphia 76ers ownership group purchased majority stake in Team Dignitas and Apex Gaming, merging the two under the Dignitas banner, appointing new staffers and using some of its staff from the Sixers for the esports brand.
There are other NBA investments of varying degrees. In 2015, two co-owners, Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov of the Sacramento Kings, launched their brand NRG Esports, while Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Stephen Kaplan invested in Immortals. In September, Ted Leonsis and Peter Guber of the Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors, respectively, launched investment group aXiomatic, which purchased a majority stake in Team Liquid.
"This partnership will be the catalyst and foundation to our continued expansion of the Misfits organization into a global esports brand and company," Misfits CEO Ben Spoont said. "The Heat -- innovators and leaders in traditional sports -- will help Misfits to unlock meaningful value across all facets of our business."
Misfits started in 2016 when Syfy channel co-founder Mitchell Rubenstein and his son-in-law, businessman Ben Spoont, launched the brand and acquired the former Renegades: Banditos League of Legends team. That team then qualified for the League Championship Series and the brand has since expanded into Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and Super Smash Bros.
IEM Katowice 2017 details out
ESL have revealed the details for IEM Katowice 2017 which will offer $250,000 in cash prizes.
The tournament will feature twelve teams, eight of which will be invited. The qualifiers will hand out four spots.
Running from March 1-5, the event will have two groups of six teams. The group stage will feature a best-of-one, round-robin format. The group winners will qualify for the semi-finals while the second and third teams from opposite groups will face each other in order to advance to the semis.
The qualifiers will hand out three spots in Europe and one in North America. In Europe, two open qualifiers will take place where an undisclosed number of teams will earn a spot in the closed qualifier. The closed qualifier will also feature invited teams. The North American qualifier will use the same format except it will only have one open qualifier.
The group stage will take place on the first two days and will be close to the public while the playoffs running from March 3-5 will be in the Spodek Arena.
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