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The next TBS esports series looks inside a major ‘CS:GO’ tournament
TBS has become an unexpected home for esports content over the last two years, though it's mostly covered Eleague, the pro gaming circuit the cable network's parent company Turner helped create. Its next show dives into the recent CS:GO pro tournament, Eleague Premier 2018, which wrapped at the end of July. While we know the results, we don't know the stories: The seven-part series follows players from eight of the top-ranked professional teams that competed, and its first hour-long episode debuts August 31st at 11PM ET/PT on TBS.
The Cavs and Warriors will have their own 'NBA 2K eLeague' teams
The inaugural season of the NBA's "2K eLeague," featuring eSports teams owned by NBA franchises, is looking more promising now than when it was announced in February. Today, the NBA revealed that 17 of its 30 teams will participate in the eSports competition, which it created in partnership with Take-Two Interactive (developer of the NBA2K series) and is scheduled to begin in 2018. Earlier this year, the league had said it only expected about 12 NBA teams to join the project, but clearly it managed to get many more of them interested before launch.
In the NBA's eSports league, diversity means a new kind of athlete
With millions of gamers willing to watch people play League of Legends or FIFA for fun, major players in the entertainment industry see eSports as an intriguing business opportunity. Earlier this month, the NBA announced a partnership with Take-Two Interactive, developer of the renowned NBA2K franchise, to create a one-of-a-kind eSports league. This new professional gaming competition, known as "NBA 2K eLeague," will be the first owned by a major US sports organization when it starts in 2018. That's assuming the NFL, MLB or MLS don't make any sudden moves before then.
This is how your parents will watch esports
Christina Alejandre ended up chatting with UFC President Dana White backstage at the Turner Studios in July, just before the final game of ELEAGUE's debut Counter-Strike: Global Offensive season. As VP of esports and ELEAGUE at Turner Sports, Alejandre was pivotal in producing that first season, and she told White how excited she was for the final game, which would be broadcast live on TBS. It was more than excitement, she explained; something more powerful was pulsing through her veins. White knew exactly what she was trying to describe. "There are very few people in this world who can identify exactly what you're saying," Alejandre remembers White saying. "What you're feeling is the first time that I saw UFC on Fox."
Crowd control and confetti cannons at the Overwatch Open
The studio is immaculate. Shiny black floors glisten under orange, blue and purple lights. A dozen people dressed in all black, wires dangling from their headphones to the battery packs at their waists, mill around, preparing massive hooded cameras, adjusting light fixtures, sweeping the floors and, way in the back on a raised platform, tweaking the appearance of the stage from behind multiscreen terminals. It's 9PM on a Friday night and everyone in the room is at work, but the air sizzles with chatter and excitement. The stage itself is impressive, with three massive, crisp screens alternating between the logo for the 2016 Overwatch Open and the competing teams' insignias. A cartoon rabbit head wearing goggles and a scar over one eye smirks down from the orange side, representing the European underdog team, Misfits. A stylized white "N" surrounded by a circle looms over the North American favorites, EnVyUs. Twelve young men -- some bearded, others clean-shaven -- sit in front of their respective screens at two long, curved banks of gaming PCs, getting in just a few more minutes of practice before the big game; just a few more kills, just a few more dodges and clicks and saves. The mood on the stage is deadly serious. Whoever wins tonight takes home $100,000, after all.
Twitter streams its first eSports tournament this weekend
Twitter is expanding beyond traditional stick-and-ball streams and moving into the lucrative eSports realm this weekend. As part of a partnership with Eleague and Turner Broadcasting, the microblogging service will air two days of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive play from Atlanta. The action starts today at 5pm Eastern with semi-finals. Eleague's end-of-season championship play starts Saturday afternoon at 4 Eastern with two teams going head to head in a best-of-three series.
