Disney and MLB Purchase Exclusive Streaming Rights for Popular MOBA, League of Legends
The eSports scene has been blowing up in recent years. Â Not only can you watch gamers compete in Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas, like Smite, or First Person Shooters, like Call of Duty, on Youtube and Twitch, but eSports are now televised, and hold live competitions in massive sports arenas. With multi-million dollar prize pools and proceeds from advertising and promotion, eSports competitions have become a huge money maker for some lucky companies. Â Despite rumors that ESPN was looking to purchase streaming rights to eSports giant, League Of Legends, BAMTech has penned a 300 million dollar deal with Riot Games for exclusive access to said rights.
BAMTech is a streaming company owned by Disney and Major League Baseball, so they definitely have some weight to throw around. Â Their deal with Riot Games grants them exclusive monetization and streaming rights for League. Â Apparently, BAMTech already has plans in motion for a League streaming service with app support which means you could have access to this eSport on your phone, computer, TV… everywhere. This incredibly expensive purchase also grants BAMTech exclusive rights to handle League distribution on existent streaming services like Twitch.
If BAMTech can bolster the already massive popularity of League of Legends, they are most certianly going to make a killing off this deal from advertising alone.  With these exclusive rights and app support already in the works, we could be seeing an upswing in the popularity of eSports. Additionally, we could also see the cost of attending an eSports event, or downloading streaming software rise.  What do you think? Do you think eSports like LOL will benefit from streaming on more devices? Would you pay for a LOL phone app or potentially pay to watch a particular eSport match? Let us know what you think in the comments below!