Today, the Utah Jazz announced a deal with Spacestation Gaming. The Utah-based esports organization will become the NBA team’s official esports partner.

The Utah Jazz has already taken steps into the esports industry as one of 17 NBA teams taking part in the inaugural season of the NBA 2K League. The Vivint Smart Home Arena—owned and operated by Utah Jazz parent company Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment—hosted Game Tyrant Expo in the Fall of 2017.

According to Chris Baum, senior vice president of sales and service for Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment, “Our organization seeks innovative ways to engage our fans through basketball from video games to real games. This partnership represents the tip of the spear of what Spacestation Gaming and the Utah Jazz can accomplish together.”

This deal continues the long trend of NBA teams partnering with esports teams. Many major esports organizations—including NRG , Counter-Logic Gaming , Fnatic , 100 Thieves , the Golden Guardians , Misfits , Flyquest , Team Dignitas , Team Liquid , and more—have various levels of backing from NBA teams.

Spacestation Gaming fields teams in eight different titles, including SMITE , Rocket League , and Rainbow 6 Siege. While the organization itself is relatively new, it’s managed to build a robust following since launching in June 2017. The organization boasts roughly 272K followers across Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch.

Spacestation Gaming’s founder Shaun “Shonduras” McBride told The Esports Observer that the deal with the Jazz has been in the works for months. While both parties had considered partnerships with several other organizations, the deal “was really one of those Cinderella stories. As soon as we talked for the first time, we both thought this was a perfect fit. Our initiatives and priorities completely lined up. Plus, we live and work in the same area so it was just perfect.”

Shaun “Shounduras” McBride and Tanner Fox with Utah Jazz Mascot. Image Credit: Shounduras



Both Shonduras and business partner Tanner Fox both suggest the interest from the Jazz stemmed from the Spacestation’s focus on content. The two are experts on the topic; Shonduras has 1.5M followers across his YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, while Fox has 11.3M on the same platforms.

Says Fox, “What sets us apart as an organization is our approach with fans on social media and our content. On social, we like to interact with our fans one-on-one to really build a community behind our org. And our content is really modern and engaging. We never want it to feel like a brand is posting.”

The partnership has already proven to be productive behind the scenes. Members of the Jazz have made themselves uniquely available for both Shonduras and Fox’s content. The two hint that more is in the works, including joint sponsorship deals.