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Rockets First NBA Team to Dedicate Front Office Slot to Esports

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Amel, Dec 1, 2016.

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  1. Amel

    Amel Contributing Member

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    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

    The NBA’s Houston Rockets have hired an esports executive to guide the franchise into the rapidly growing world of competitive video gaming.

    Sebastian Park, who starts Thursday as director of esports development, will assess how the Rockets and owner Les Alexander can join the $500 million industry, both as an investment and to expand the reach of the 49-year-old basketball franchise.

    “Nothing is off the table,” said Park, 25. “We’re going to look at everything.”

    That could mean buying teams, or getting involved at the event or league levels. It also could place the Rockets brand directly into the world of competitive gaming, a step taken by various clubs in Europe, but not yet adopted by the handful of other NBA owners who have recently invested in esports teams. Those decisions will be made over time, Park said, a luxury that the Rockets have.

    “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 said.



    purchased and merged two esports teams. Sacramento Kings co-owners Mark Mastrov and Andy Miller have also invested in a team alongside Shaquille O’Neal, while Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and Golden State Warriors part-owner Peter Guber teamed up to acquire another.


    Competitive video gaming will generate about $500 million in 2016, according to a recent Newzoo report. That’s up from about $200 million just two years ago, and Newzoo projects it to eclipse $1 billion by 2019.

    The competitions, which include fantasy games likes League of Legends and Overwatch, and sports games like EA’s FIFA soccer franchise, have about 292 million viewers worldwide -- mostly young men, many of whom consume media not via the traditional cable television model, but rather through digital avenues like Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch.

    That’s the audience that sports franchises across the U.S. are struggling to reach. Alexander and Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, known for his interest in emerging technology and analytics, have followed esports for a while, but the world of professional gaming is fragmented, disorganized and global. The Rockets executives will rely on Park to make sense of it all.

    That means managing an industry where the popular games are constantly changing, and gamers move around from team to team with little regulation or framework. That can be hard for smaller esports companies, but presents a unique opportunity for the Rockets, who have a billionaire owner and can take a long-term approach.

    “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,” said Park, who co-owned Team Archon until earlier this year. “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.”

    Park broke into the competitive gaming world by running the esports sponsorship division at domain registrar NameCheap in Los Angeles. He left his position as Chief Executive Officer of Team Archon earlier this year and has been consulting for the past six months.
     
    #1 Amel, Dec 1, 2016
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  2. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan Member

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    Interesting^
     
    #2 Joe Fan, Dec 1, 2016
  3. TheRealAllpro

    TheRealAllpro Morey only fan

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    28 years old and I'm feel old because I don't get E-sports. I assume it will be big but I don't get the appeal.
     
    #3 TheRealAllpro, Dec 1, 2016
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  4. MorningZippo

    MorningZippo Member

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    E sports has the 2 things every sport needs to flourish.

    1) amateurs can have fun playing it.

    2) there are visual cues and rewards for every action you do.

    Most video games fall short on the second cwtagory. That is, your average viewer can't even tell who's winning or losing. With LoL, even someone who has never played before can get excited when one player kills the entire enemy team. The demonstrations of skill don't take encyclopedic knowledge to realize "oh ****, that guy just did something that doesn't happen often, and is incredibly hard to do."

    The crowd excitement when someone gets a penta kill, or sneaks around for the win, is comparable to the energy at the end of a 4th quarter in a basketball game.

    The most important part? It's barrier to entry to incredibly low. Almost everyone has a PC or laptop capable of playing, and the game is free. Meaning the base of people that can potentially learn the game is huge.
     
    #4 MorningZippo, Dec 1, 2016
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  5. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    Now this was/is a very smart move. Considering the game we are making is designed to be E-sports compatible.

    DD
     
    #5 DaDakota, Dec 1, 2016
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  6. chenjy9

    chenjy9 Numbers Don't Lie
    Supporting Member

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    #GATES
     
    #6 chenjy9, Dec 1, 2016
  7. TheRealist137

    TheRealist137 Member

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    in before we have threads dedicated to how Le$ is a terrible e-sports owner who is too cheap to invest in high end gaming PCs
     
    #7 TheRealist137, Dec 1, 2016
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  8. HR Dept

    HR Dept Contributing Member

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    Huh?? o_O
     
    #8 HR Dept, Dec 1, 2016
  9. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    I wonder if they're going to move Capella from the basketball department and have him focus solely on FIFA 2017 now. I would imagine so. Nene should fill in nicely.
     
    #9 Ziggy, Dec 1, 2016
  10. omgTHEpotential

    omgTHEpotential Member

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    I believe Jonas Jerebko has his own professional CS:GO team - "Detroit Renegades".
     
    #10 omgTHEpotential, Dec 1, 2016
  11. JJWhat?

    JJWhat? Member

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    tl;dr Warriors already bought E-Sports team Liquid, which is indeed a very big E-Sports team. Rockets aren't first
     
    #11 JJWhat?, Dec 1, 2016
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  12. MrButtocks

    MrButtocks Contributing Member

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    You've probably played basketball before. Most people are basic level, but you've you seen some talented people stand out. Watching the NBA means watching God-tier level players go against each other to see who is the best.

    The appeal of Esports is no different than any other sport. You watch the best compete and probably root for someone. I doubt you find all sports equally entertaining. Are you into taekwondo, fencing, or chess as much as basketball? You may not even know all the rules of those sports, let alone who's winning. But once you do know the rules, or played the sport yourself, then you might get a kick out of watching top tier competition.
     
    #12 MrButtocks, Dec 1, 2016
  13. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Maybe we can win a champinship in Esports before we win the real deal.
     
    #13 daywalker02, Dec 1, 2016
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  14. malakas

    malakas Member

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    funny thing...Hayward is a big advocate of e-sports and even wrote an article about the respect e-sports should get . Hmmm
     
    #14 malakas, Dec 1, 2016
  15. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Dayum...this position should be yours!!

    DD the insida!
     
    #15 heypartner, Dec 1, 2016
  16. cdrive

    cdrive Contributing Member

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    I TOTALLLLLY misread the thread title on first glance.
     
    #16 cdrive, Dec 1, 2016
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  17. Fyreball

    Fyreball Contributing Member

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    I, for one, welcome our escort overlords, and am wondering where one can purchase a jersey of his favorite escort??
     
    #17 Fyreball, Dec 1, 2016
    AroundTheWorld and FTW Rockets FTW like this.
  18. FTW Rockets FTW

    FTW Rockets FTW Contributing Member

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    hehe I read the title as Escorts too for the first few times
     
    #18 FTW Rockets FTW, Dec 1, 2016
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  19. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    Nope, they are not paying enough - I guarantee it, but we would be happy to talk with them about how our two interests might align, our game would be perfect to help build the Rockets brand....we shall see.

    DD
     
    #19 DaDakota, Dec 1, 2016
    TheMystery008 and daywalker02 like this.
  20. hvic

    hvic Member

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    wheres the escorts at
     
    #20 hvic, Dec 1, 2016
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