NBA team Miami Heat partners with esports team Misfits
NBA team the Miami Heat has announced a partnership with esports organization Misfits. The Heat has acquired a stake in Misfits and will assist with the team’s marketing, branding, promotion, retail, digital, and sponsorship activation responsibilities.
Both teams will also be cross-promoting each other.
“The Miami Heat pride ourselves on being innovative in all aspects of sports and business,” said Heat Chief Executive Officer Nick Arison in the announcement. “For us, it made perfect sense to partner with Misfits, a young and ambitious franchise in a sport that is blazing a trail in terms of 21st century recreational competition amongst Millennials.”
Misfits currently owns teams in League of Legends (EU LCS), Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and Super Smash Bros. The organization was first formed in June 2016 by Ben Spoont, who is a Miami native.
The team will be competing in the upcoming 2017 Spring EU LCS; check out where they place in our pre-split power rankings.
Misfits joins several other esports teams who have partnered with traditional sports organizations; the Philadelphia 76ers acquired Dignitas and Apex in September last year, and the Milwaukee Bucks recently rebranded the Cloud9 Challenger team it acquired to FlyQuest.
