Turner Sports, WME-IMG Partnering To Launch Gaming League

The potential for e-sports to deliver a young, male demo has become so alluring that two of sports media’s biggest companies are partnering to create a new competitive gaming league. Turner Sports and WME-IMG this morning announced the partnership, a move that provides the clearest sign that the sport is poised to enter the mainstream. 

The companies would not release details of the deal or say how much they are investing in it. They described the deal simply as a long-term one that took about a year to negotiate. The yet-to-be-named league kicks off next year with two 10-week seasons that will be produced from Turner’s Atlanta studios and carried exclusively on TBS on Friday nights.

The plan is to produce the league from Atlanta, a city that Turner expects to become e-sports’ East Coast capital, Turner Sports President Lenny Daniels said. The regular season will be shot with a live, studio audience on a TBS set; the playoffs and championship game could move to a local arena.

For more, see today's issue of THE DAILY.