SI – The Boston Celtics may be the next NBA organization fielding a team for the league’s new 2K eLeague. On a Forbes SportsMoney podcast earlier this month, Celtics Managing Partner, Governor and Chief Executive Officer Wyc Grousbeck spoke with host Mike Ozanian…There will be an eCeltics.”
Can I see myself watching, nevermind paying to watch, an NBA 2K game? Probably not, but hey money talks. And the NBA is seeing some serious dollar signs. So as dumb as it may seem to some, eSports is a cash cow.
Video games like League of Legends have HUGE eSports followings with tons of people tuning in. Not to mention the kids playing for these eSports teams are bringing in legit paychecks. It’s not like these kids are getting paid in Baja Blast and Slim Jims, these guys are earning like $65k base salaries. Sign me the fuck up because I would play Madden 40 hours a week for $65k a year, I would make that sacrifice.
So the NBA is the first professional sports league to put together a legitimate effort to squeeze a little cash outta the nerds.
And it sounds like Wyc is serious as shit about it.
“We will find players, we will compensate these players. We’ll house them in Boston. They’ll be a team. They will train. There’s training for this. And then we’ll go compete against the other NBA teams in 2K…We will stream these matches.”
Wyc sounds more like he’s assembling The Avengers than a squad of guys who play entirely too much NBA2K.
Even Jonas Jerebko is getting in on the action and bought a franchise, the Detroit Renegades, so thats how ya know its a can’t miss idea.
Tonight we spell Jerebko WITH A G. Ankles shattered. #Celtics #Hawks #NBA pic.twitter.com/jvJfhpNx9e
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) February 28, 2017
I am still pretty pissed at Wyc for shit canning me in Year 4 of my Celtics rebuild in NBA2K16. We were building something special and you just threw it away. Sad!
