James, the current NBA No. 1 star, did not come, although he was one of the three candidates for MVP, and he had no hope of winning the award and was unwilling to accompany him, which inevitably weakened the star of the awards ceremony.

When it comes to sports awards, ESPY is the frontrunner. Founded by ESPN in 199, the ESPY Awards are held annually to recognize athletes who have excelled in the sport over the past year. The ESPY Awards Ceremony is very inspiring for the NBA, ESPY adopts the grand ceremony model in which the sports and entertainment industry celebrities participate together, taking the 017 ESPY Awards Ceremony as an example, there are more than 00 big-name guests in the sports and media industry present, which is a real star.

ESPY's award selection process begins with a dedicated candidate selection committee to propose a shortlist, and then sports fans vote online, and the winner with the most votes wins, which not only ensures professionalism, but also stimulates sports fans to participate in the award, and the NBA awards ceremony has multiple fan vote awards, which is quite similar to ESPY. ESPY is not just about sports, it's not just about entertainment, it's about public welfare. Every year, ESPY donates a portion of the proceeds from the awards ceremony to charity, which has been introduced in the NBA's All-Star Game, which features a community care award and an expanded partnership with charity.

The ESPY awards ceremony also bears social responsibility, such as the 016 awards ceremony, James, Wade, Paul and Anthony, four NBA stars, as the opening guests, spoke out against the shooting violence and racial issues that occurred in the United States at that time, which is a sublimation of the awards ceremony and is worth learning from the NBA awards ceremony.

As the awards ceremony that has just been held for two years, the NBA awards ceremony does not have a historical background, and there are still many links that need to be further improved, but the NBA has hundreds of millions of fans, has strong sponsors, and the cooperation with major media is also a win-win model, which can promote the development of the NBA awards ceremony to a higher level and form a more complete industrial chain.

Book of Hundred Leagues

In 018, the American awards ceremony suffered a cold winter, the Oscars saw a 0% drop in viewership compared to last year, the Grammy Awards viewership fell 4% compared to the previous year, and the American Golden Globe Awards viewership fell 5% year-on-year. The traditional award ceremony is declining in appeal, while the NBA awards ceremony, as a new thing in the field of basketball, has a lot of room for development. The NBA was originally a professional sports league from scratch, from weak to strong, and the NBA has excellent resources, the ability and opportunity to make the awards ceremony bigger and stronger, making it the Oscar of the sports world.

The conventional wisdom is that esports is not a sport and will never reach the international level of football and basketball. However, the rapid development of esports in recent years has gradually changed people's outdated concepts. And just recently, the NBA's entry into the field of e-sports has made a series of moves, which has rejuvenated the industry.

In fact, there have been three active/retired NBA players who have entered the esports industry and have their own esports teams:

In January 015, former NBA player and now actor Rick Fox bought the famous League of Legends team GravityGaming and renamed it EchoFo.

In 016, former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal co-invested in the North American NRG esports team with Andy Miller, Mark Mastrov and others, minority shareholders of the NBA Kings.

At the end of August 016, Boston Celtics current forward Jonas Jerebko bought Renegades, a former North American LCS team.

In addition to NBA players buying up esports teams, many NBA owners and teams have also begun to get involved in the esports industry. For example, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has not invested directly in esports, but he has also invested in esports.

On September 6, local time, the NBA Philadelphia 76ers announced the acquisition of two e-sports teams, Dignitas and Ape, and merged the two teams. It also makes the 76ers the first professional sports club in North America to purchase an esports team.

The next day, an investment group consisting of Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, Golden State Warriors coowner Pete Guber and NBA legend "Magic" Johnson also bought TeamLiquid.

Another day, Stephen Kapalan, one of the Grizzlies owners and vice president of the team, announced that he had increased his stake in the esports team Immortals and entered the company's board of directors. The Grizzlies also became the first NBA team to invest in esports in a week.

The strong joining of the NBA has suddenly added a fire to the already rapidly developing e-sports industry. The e-sports industry began to officially enter the attention of the mainstream media as a branch of the sports industry. So, what does the addition of NBA players and investors mean for the esports industry?

Professional athletes: the perfect spokesperson

The influence of NBA players is bound to accelerate the global expansion of the esports industry. This is because it was originally a relatively local esports league, which may have attracted fans from all over the world. The esports league will also continue to expand to the rest of the world with the help of the promotion effect of professional athletes.

Following in the footsteps of the NBA, Eurosport is not to be outdone. German football team Schalke 04 have purchased a European LCS seat for Elements. Manchester City in the English Premier League, West Ham United in the English Premier League, and Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga have also entered the esports field.

The e-sports industry has not only attracted the interest of many sports clubs, but also major broadcasters and brokerage companies have also laid out the e-sports industry. For example, Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting Company is involved in the production and broadcast of several esports events. WME-IMG, a global entertainment and sports giant, acquired GlobaleSports Management, which focuses on the field of e-sports, in 015 and established its own e-sports industry ecosystem, and the development of e-sports in China is also very eye-catching. According to the statistics of iResearch, in 016, the overall scale of Huaxia e-sports users will reach 170 million, an increase of 4.9% over last year. By 018, the overall number of esports users is expected to reach 800 million.

It is worth mentioning that e-sports officially entered the major of Chinese colleges and universities this year, which also made the Chinese sports industry see the huge potential behind this market. As a result, Huaxia Sports Company and professional clubs have also begun to focus on the cake of e-sports. For example, in July, Ali Sports and the international e-sports federation IeSF formed an exclusive global strategic partnership, announcing that they would jointly create top e-sports events. Chinese Super League team Tianjin TEDA also recently announced the establishment of an e-football club to officially recruit members from the outside world. This is also the first time in the history of the Chinese Super League that an esports club has been established.

Before you know it, the esports industry is using one of the hottest marketing tools of the moment: influencer marketing. Traditionally, influencers have been brand partners who promote their brands with personal influence, usually with the ultimate goal of gaining money or gain. (To be continued)