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Closing Bell

NBA 2K League Puts Promotional Muscle Behind Finals

The league on Friday unveiled the trophy that will go to winner of its inaugural Finals seriesNBA 2K League

Knicks Gaming and Heat Check Gaming will meet Saturday for a best-of-three series to crown the winner of the inaugural NBA 2K League season. The league’s 115-seat studio in N.Y. figures to be full for the event, and NBA 2K League Managing Dir Brendan Donohue said the Finals will be promoted across all social media channels in an expanded form. Donohue said, “You’ll see all fresh, new content that we’re actually capturing all week long with the Heat and with the Knicks that we’ll share for the first time exclusively on Twitch during the Finals.”

Donohue noted that much of the social content will “fall under the umbrella of sponsorship inventory.” The league has partnered with Mache Custom Kicks to have six NBA 2K League shoes made for a Twitter giveaway on @NBA2KLeague. One shoe was dished out Thursday, one will be given out Friday and the remaining four will be given during the Finals broadcast.

Donohue is quick to point out that the league’s audience primarily connects with it digitally. While the NBA 2K League’s Twitch viewership does not stack up with that of Riot Games’ League of Legends Championship Series or Blizzard’s Overwatch League, Donohue has an optimistic outlook on viewership for the Finals and believes the league is “just scratching the surface.” “We continue to see consistent growth every single week,” Donohue said, “and so being this is our final week of the season, we expect to have our best week of the year.”

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