Disney and MLB purchase streaming rights for 'League of Legends'

The rising popularity (and profitability) of esports is getting hard to ignore, so now more major companies are going in big.

League of Legends developer Riot Games has sold its streaming rights to BAMTech, a digital media company created by Major League Baseball and recently partially acquired by Disney with a $1 billion minority stake. BAMTech has reportedly agreed to pay Riot at least $300 million through 2023 for exclusive streaming and monetization rights to League of Legends competitions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

League of Legends tournaments have primarily been streamed on Riot's Twitch and YouTube channels, as well as being licensed to private tournament organizers like ESL. BAMTech will now be in charge of all professional League streams, broadcasting and distributing Riot's own professional seasons to third-party tournaments.

This doesn't necessarily mean League will be leaving Twitch, the most popular streaming service for esports and effectively the home of esports viewership. BAMTech can still distribute to that and other platforms.

These other platforms were touched upon in Riot's announcement of the deal, which teases vague plans for 2017 using BAMTech's "best-in-class technology to create additional possibilities and opportunities for fans to access, and connect with, League of Legends."

This could mean a separate streaming service dedicated solely to League of Legends in the form of a website or an app, something no other major esport has.

The world of esports has been steadily growing over the past 20 years, and this past year has seen some of its biggest growth in the business sector, estimated to be worth almost $900 million by SuperData Research. With massive global audiences tuning into competitive gaming competitions (including 43 million unique viewers for the League of Legends 2016 Worlds finals), more and more major names in traditional sports have been dipping their toes into esports, including three-time NBA champion Rick Fox founding the Echo Fox franchise with teams in multiple esports, current NBA player Jonas Jerebko purchasing existing franchise Renegades and the Philadelphia 76ers acquiring massive franchise Team Dignitas.

On the media side of things, esports caught Turner's eye and it created ELeague, which has run professional competitive tournaments in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch, broadcasting every match on Twitch and select matches on TBS.

League of Legends itself has had some struggles turning a profit on League of Legends as an esport. In September, Riot co-founder Brandon Beck told Polygon that despite League's popularity and Riot investing millions into the game as an esport, it still wasn't profitable.

By taking more control of League's streaming rights and getting assistance from BAMTech with advertising and sponsorships, the company may be able to turn a profit with this deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, BAMTech's profits over the $300 million investment line will be shared between the companies.