Seven Sports Leagues Making Investments in Esports
By
Richard Janvrin
Contributor Updated: 02 January 2025
Richard Janvrin Contributor
Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today.
Seven Sports Leagues
While there’s certainly a lot of attention put on the real-life playoffs and championship wins across professional sports, numerous leagues are getting in on the esports action, supporting those who vie for championship status with a controller.
In doing so, these leagues give esports more legitimacy and give another path to succeeding in that sport in a new way rather than how you can perform in real life on the field.
Today, you can bet on esports online at select online sportsbooks.
Below, I’ll look at sports teams in esports, who owns esports, and how the leagues they’re in also support championships to determine the best players of that sport’s video game.
- The NBA and NBA 2K League
- FIFA and eWorld Cup
- NFL and Madden Championship
- Formula 1 and F1 Esports
- MLB and MLB The Show Leagues
- Premier League and ePremier League
The NBA and NBA 2K League
The NBA 2K League is somewhat on life support, but the NBA has supported it.
The NBA 2K League is a joint venture between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive. It is an esports league that features the best NBA 2K players in the world.
It started in May 2018 with 17 teams.
And here’s where sports teams in esports come in—each of the 17 teams was affiliated with an NBA team.
It then expanded 25 teams, with 22 in the image of sports franchises in esports.
Teams in the 2K League play 3 vs. 3 and 5 vs. 5.
There was even a 2024 NBA 2K League Draft, which took place on Jan. 11, 2024, and was streamed live from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida.
There have been many famous esports investors from the NBA, including Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry.
However, as mentioned, the future of the 2K League could be in doubt.
A press release in July 2024 mentioned that the league would be “reimagined” and mentioned a digital media brand, live events, and the 2K League itself. The section discussing the 2K League mentioned that it would include NBA players and celebrities and tap “into the passions of tens of millions of 2K players and fans.”
This came after it didn’t break 26k viewers, which would question any esports investing. For context, the League of Legends World Championship drew over six million.
FIFA and FIFAe World Cup
The FIFAe World Cup is a tournament held by FIFA that started in 2018. Before that, it was the FIFA Interactive World Cup, which started in 2004.
Today, unfortunately, EA Sports and FIFA broke apart, halting this esports investing, so now the EA Sports FC Pro and the FIFAe World Cup have shifted toward Rocket League and other games.
In 2013, the tournament drew over 2.5 million sign-ups.
Then, in 2015, with the release of Xbox One and PlayStation 4, these players were able to compete against one another. 2.3 million players attempted to qualify.
Including Rocket League, the FIFAe World Cup also focuses on Football Manager and eFootball.
The tournament was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
NFL and Madden Championship
While the 2K League is barely hanging on and the FIFAe World Cup isn’t quite what it was, the Madden Championship is still going strong.
In 2024, it marked the 10th season of the championships.
There are multiple prize pools:
- $100k in the Kickoff Classic across the top 32 placers.
- $150k in the Kickoff, Most Feared, Unstoppable, and Zero Chill challenge across the top 32 players.
- $1,000,000 in the MCS Playoffs and Madden Bowl across the top 16 players.
In all, that’s $1.25 million in prize money.
There are multiple steps to the Madden Championship where players can take on the role of sports franchises in esports:
- Kickoff Classic: Aug. 14 to 15
- Kickoff Challenge: Aug. 25 to 25
- Most Feared Challenge: Sept. 21 to 22 and Sept. 28 to 29
- Unstoppable Challenge: Oct. 26 to 29
- Zero Chill Challenge: Nov. 16 to 17 and Nov. 23 to 24
- Last Chance Qualifier: Jan. 11, 2025
- MCS Playoffs: Jan. 21, 22, 29
- Madden Bowl: Feb. 7
Formula 1 and F1 Esports
The FIA Formula One Esports Series is a league promoted by Formula 1. It was created in 2017, and in 2018, official Formula 1 teams joined the program to form teams and compete. This is probably the best example of a sports team in esports.
In 2017, 60,000 players tried to qualify for the LAN finals, which viewers in 123 countries watched.
In 2018, this was split into two stages. The first stage opened in April 2018, allowing players to earn a place on the official driver line-up for an official F1 team. This led to the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, Red Bull Racing, Force India F1 Team, Williams, Renault Sport F1 Team, Haas F1 Team, McLaren, Toro Rosso, and Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team offering esports drivers positions.
The tournament didn’t shut down during the pandemic. Instead, it was held remotely.
In 2023, the championship had a name change to F1 Sim Racing.
This tournament has a qualification period that features two of the top nine players from each console and platform like Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. There’s also three reserve seats given.
From there, there’s the Challenger and Pro Series.
MLB and MLB The Show Leagues
There are a few ways that MLB The Show integrates esports into its community.
In 2020, the first Players League championship was played in which former Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Blake Snell beat Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito.
With that win, $30,000 was donated to the Suncoast Boys and Girls Clubs.
In all, the season was 25 regular season games.
Additionally, there’s The Show Championship Series.
The MLB The Show 24 championship grand finale had a prize pool of $51,000 and was accessible to players in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Premier League and ePremier League
The ePremier League announced it’s returning for the 2024-25 season and will feature a prize pool of £100,000. This will done by playing EA Sports FC 25.
This marks the seventh ePremier League, which occurs from November 2024 to March 2025. To play, you must be 16 years old, and the playoffs for the esports tournament begin in January.
“We’re thrilled to embark on another ePremier League season with EA SPORTS FC Pro, our premier platform crafted for elite esports competition,” said Sam Turkbas, Senior Director of Esports at EA Sports.
“This event is more than just a tournament; it’s an incredible journey for players of all abilities to progress from playing casually at home to proudly representing their clubs on the grand stage of the premier League and beyond. EA SPORTS FC remains dedicated to bringing the spirit of football to life, using esports as a powerful bridge to connect fans with the game they’re passionate about,” he finished.
