What Can We Expect From the MLB eSports League?

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There had been a lot of rumours spreading for the best part of a year that Major League Baseball was planning to announce the launch of an eSports league in 2019. Whilst big news for baseball, it wouldn’t be revolutionary since the National Basketball Association has already been running its NBA 2K League since 2018, and other international sports like Formula One also have well established eSports leagues. 

However, journalists and fans were shocked when MLB finally announced its plans on 9 July 2019. Yes, it will be launching an eSports league, but not in the United States; instead this league would be aimed at the Chinese market. The MLB China eSports League will follow a similar format as the regular MLB format, with a regular season and a programme of playoff games.  The details of what MLB plans for the MLB China eSports League are still pretty vague, but we can build a good picture from other leagues and the snippets released in MLB’s announcement.

What is eSports?

eSports has quickly become a multi-billion dollar industry, making competitions out of video games. These eSports competitions and leagues have run for just about every time of video game: role playing, first person shooters, racing, and sports. Most leagues spring up around a particular video game, such as the HALO World Championship, the Call of Duty World League, and the Fortnite World Cup. However, existing sports leagues and franchises are getting involved to cash in and extend their reach to wider audiences. MLB is the latest of these big brands to do so. 

Part of a Wider Revolution

eSports is just one of a number of major changes that are currently taking place in the sports industry. Digital streaming services are providing new opportunities for sports leagues and teams to reach international audiences that were not previously served by traditional TV broadcast deals. Major streaming platforms like Amazon Prime have also begun buying broadcasting rights that would have been previously bought by traditional terrestrial and cable TV networks. Another major change is that sports betting has become legal in a number of states in the US; this has resulted in several major brands launching their services in the country covering most major sports and leagues, including the MLB, in which different wagers can be made prior to the start of, and during matches. 

What Can We Expect From MLB?

The details of what MLB plans for the MLB China eSports League are still pretty vague, but we can build a good picture from other leagues and the snippets released in MLB’s announcement. 

The league will hold events in seven different cities within China, with regular season games held in Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, Suhou, and Chongqing. After the three month regular season, the playoff games will be held in the “tier 1” city of Shanghai. 

When the NBA launched its eSports league, it had joined forces with a number of partners on board, including Intel and Dell, who provided the technical hardware to make the league a success. MLB is doing something similar in China, announcing partnerships with eight different eSports organisations to help promote the league and attract fans. Partnerships with Chinese social media networks including Weibo (the Chinese equivalent to Twitter) will also likely help boost the league’s appeal. MLB’s aim is to not only attract baseball fans, but to also entice fans of other eSports leagues to provide a larger market. 

Why China?

The initial announcement by MLB was met firstly by surprised reactions, which was quickly followed by intrigue. On closer inspection, the move makes perfect sense. It launched the MLB China Series in 2008, which saw two training games hosted in the country that year with the intention of increasing interest in the sport. A domestic Chinese baseball league also ran between 2002 and 2016, but this ultimately could not garner enough support to make it sustainable. 

By launching an eSports league in China, MLB is able to enter the Chinese market with a much lower risk. eSports fans in the United States that are interested in baseball will still likely follow the eSports league, but hosting the competition in China will help develop the brand there. A number of “MLB Experience” events are being planned to let Chinese people learn about “baseball culture”, and ultimately drive interest in the league. 

Launching an eSports league will be significantly cheaper than running a full, real-life league in the country. It also could attract a broader audience as existing baseball fans and those interested in eSports could support the MLB China eSports League. This makes it a lower risk way to extend the MLB brand into the huge Chinese market.