Welcome to the latest episode of the Full-Court Finance podcast from Zacks Investment Research. This week we take a look at the growth of esports and how deals between gaming companies and leagues such as the NBA will help expand professional video gaming's appeal.

The esports ecosystem is expected to expand by almost 40% in 2018 to become a $905.6 million business, based on new estimates from market research firm NewZoo. A majority of this money is set to come from non-endemic sponsors, advertisers, and media companies.

This year, HP (HP), Intel INTC , Toyota TM , and T-Mobile TMUS all sponsor Activision Blizzard's ATVI new "Overwatch League," which models its structure on major U.S. professional sports leagues. Take-Two Interactive TTWO and Electronic Arts EA have also bolstered their partnerships with more mainstream sports.

Take-Two and the NBA's new "NBA 2K League" is set to tip off its inaugural season this spring. When it does, the NBA will become the first major North American sports league to run an esports league.

The NBA's new esports league does yet have a media rights partner. There are, however, a few likely frontrunners. The league already works with Amazon's AMZN Twitch platform to stream G League games, and Facebook FB and Twitter TWTR are both actively trying to expand their streaming content options.

At the same time, the most popular sport in the world, soccer, is hoping to grow its reach through joint ventures between EA's FIFA video game and pro leagues around the world, including the MLS.

Esports have been on the rise for years. Yet, its growth has been largely tied to games such as Tencent-owned TCEHYLeague of Legends and other multiplayer battle games. Now, esports have the chance to become even bigger with the successful adoption and integration of widely popular games for mainstream sports, like Madden and NBA 2K .

If you have any questions about this episode of Full-Court Finance please feel free to shoot us an email over at podcast@zacks.com . Please also make sure to check out all of our other podcasts at zacks.com/podcast , and remember to subscribe and leave a rating on iTunes.

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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report

Facebook, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report

Tencent Holding Ltd. (TCEHY): Free Stock Analysis Report

Twitter, Inc. (TWTR): Free Stock Analysis Report

Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord (TM): Free Stock Analysis Report

Activision Blizzard, Inc (ATVI): Free Stock Analysis Report

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO): Free Stock Analysis Report

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA): Free Stock Analysis Report

T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS): Free Stock Analysis Report

Intel Corporation (INTC): Free Stock Analysis Report

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.