The NBA’s Houston Rockets recently hired esports executive Sebastian Park, 25, to help the 49-year-old franchise and owner Les Alexander determine how to participate in the 0 million industry. The Rockets would be the first NBA team to dedicate a front-office executive to esports. Several European clubs already have embraced competitive online gaming.
Park said, “Nothing is off the table. We’re going to look at everything. What really drew me to the Rockets was their ability to say, ‘There are things we know, and things we don’t know. We know the esports space is valuable, now let’s take time and really figure it out.’” Park formerly directed the esports sponsorship division at domain registrar NameCheap in Los Angeles, and also served as chief executive officer at Team Archon. He has been consulting for the past six months.
Fantasy games like League of Legends and Overwatch, and sports games like EA’s FIFA soccer franchise, attract 292 million international viewers. According to Newzoo, in 2016 competitive video gaming is expected to generate about $500 million, up from about $200 million two years ago. Newzoo projects the total will top $1 billion by 2019.
The games primarily are played by young men who prefer digital platforms including Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch. The world of professional gaming is fragmented, disorganized and global; gamers change teams constantly and the games themselves have little regulation or framework. That’s where Park comes in for the Rockets.
Park, who co-owned Team Archon until earlier this year, said, “A lot of people look at esports myopically, as something that needs to explode in the next week to make ends meet, and I was there, I ran a team in that manner. The Rockets can approach this not from the perspective of a start-up, but as an organization that can make bets with the purpose of being a major player in this space.”
Earlier this year, the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers purchased and merged two esports teams. Sacramento Kings co-owners Mark Mastrov and Andy Miller also have invested in a team with Shaquille O’Neal. And Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and Golden State Warriors part-owner Peter Guber teamed up to acquire another.
