E-sports score big with OverwatchESPN deal
Make room, sports fans — video games are coming to ESPN.
Activision Blizzard, creator of the massively popular “Overwatch,” inked a multi-year agreement with ESPN, Disney and ABC on Wednesday to bring its e-sports league to broadcast TV for the first time.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The video-game maker created a 12-team sports league in January for professional players of the 2-yearold game.
ESPN will air the league’s “Grand Finals” in prime time later this month — its first prime time esports programming. A highlights show will air later on ABC.
Some Overwatch League teams boast famous owners. The New York team belongs to Mets proprietor Fred Wilpon, and the Boston team is the property of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
The game — a first-person shooter affair whereby six-person teams do battle — has more than 40 million players worldwide.
Overwatch League, which is in the midst of its first season, had previously stuck to online streaming of its tournaments on sites like Amazon’s Twitch, which inked a two-year deal with Activision Blizzard.
“We are turning the corner here in terms of our interest and engagement in the e-sports category,” ESPN head of digital media programming John Lasker said in a statement.
“Clearly by the way we’re going to be covering it starting with the playoffs and the finals this year certainly speaks volumes to our excitement and our enthusiasm overall for esports moving forward,” he added.
The Overwatch League playoffs began Wednesday evening on Disney XD and ESPN3. The finals begin on July 27 on ESPN.
About 427 million people are expected to watch video gaming worldwide in 2019, according to market research firm Newzoo.