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It’s game time! In conversation with Matt Arden, Head of Content & Media for NBA 2K League 🏀🎮
Today I'm thrilled to be speaking with Matt Arden as the head of content and media for NBA Two K League. Matt oversees the overall development and success of the league's content strategy, broadcast and beyond. For those of you that are new to the world of sports, NBA Two K League is the official gaming League for the National Basketball Association and features the best of the best when it comes to two key players
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 1:10
My true love has always been sports and sports broadcasting and a real fan of the NBA and love what the NBA does and what it stands for with sports lucky enough to be a name that was able to apply for a job with some NBA experience and was lucky enough to get the job here at the two K League, and we've been running ever since
I sort of briefly mentioned this already, but Esports has really been born and grown right before our very eyes. I mean, it was an absolute nothing a handful of years ago, and now it's a household name. In some regards. I was a teacher for many years, and the amount of kids that went home every day and participated in some aspect of Esports was overwhelming
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 2:06
It's a joint venture between Take Two who makes two K and the NBA, who's obviously the League. And the two K League is the professional Esports extension of Two K. And so we have 23 teams in the League, 22 of which are from traditional NBA franchises, and the 23rd, which we announced last year prior to the Pandemic, was the Genji Tigers of Shanghai. So you can kind of see some interesting growth strategies there
You know, Matt, it's interesting because in listening to you speak about Two K League, I'm thinking of the phrase that music is a universal language, and I think that as time goes on. Yeah, that's definitely true. But we're also sort of seeing the game is the universal language as well. And even before Esports gaming was so wildly popular throughout the world that you could travel anywhere and talk to somebody about a video game. I mean, I've done it
As a content strategist, I think that the growth of Two K League and just the massive amount of influence that the game has on people all around the world, young and old speaks to the importance of your job and your team's job and all the great work that you're doing. I know that a podcast was launched recently and so I'd like to just know a little bit more about how you been sort of fleshing out these ideas and giving the fans what they want because it is working
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 1:38
And we just love the fact that those walls can be torn down and you can be anyone from anywhere. But as long as you're good on the sticks and you have high basketball IQ, you can play our games team. And that's something we're very proud of. And we continue to make available to more and more people
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 3:11
But to your point about listening to fans, I think the strategy is pretty simple. When it comes to the broadcast, it's put out the most polished, most comprehensive product we can possibly muster and use as much of our broadcast time to expose what a unique game we play as well as the personalities of the players playing that game. Like I said, our players are some of the most dynamic, interesting people in Esports
So you mentioned some of the broadcasters, the commentators, the people that are the faces, let's say. And then we've also talked about the athletes, what's going on, aside from that behind the scenes. I know that we have the podcast. We touched on that already, but there are, like many moving parts here
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 1:49
We're growing something as it relates to the broadcast and content team. It's pretty small, but we have some really great strategic partners, too. The team I work within the broadcasting content team. There's only four of us at the League, but we work with some really great people as well
And like I said, fun in mind, we'll wrap it up. I want to know, Matt, just in your time at Two K League, a lot has happened. There's been some highs, there's been some lows. What is your favorite moment? And I'm talking about your entire history with Two Klee. It could be a win that was most memorable for you. It could be a moment with one of the players. Or maybe a personal win on your part
I also wanted to add for all of those listening that I added the link to the NBA Two K League website. At the top of this swell, it has tons of great information stats on the League really important stuff. If you want to keep with it, check it out to fans of the NBA, non fans of the NBA. It's really a ton of fun sports bar, something else
Matt Arden
@mattarden · 2:13
And everything from that moment just felt great and such a cool thing to be a part of and such great people. And again, I know I sound super enthusiastic and super flowery, but just such great people, such great players. It's just a true honor to work at the NBA on this amazing product. And so again, right away, that was my favorite memory was the Hong Kong trip that jumped me right into the League
phil spade
@Phil · 2:29
And the more that I see the younger generations kind of gravitating towards Esports and watching sports bar just makes me think that the future is even brighter than what people think it is. The older generations still don't understand it as much as the younger generations do. But I think it really has a bright future