Team Dignitas is targeting a broader potential esports audience by offering livestreaming on Facebook along with Twitch. The team, which is owned by the Philadephia 76ers, made this move to offer both fans and sponsorship partners a larger audience to connect with. Players on Team Dignitas’ six rosters across League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Smite will practice, interact and share their stories with new gaming audiences.

Jonathan Kemp, CEO of Team Dignitas, told AListDaily that Facebook’s 1.86 billion users and 650 million gamers offer a much larger and more diverse audience to engage with.

“We believe esports is growing at a significant rate, and as new fans come into this space, they want to find new players and teams to engage with. Facebook will be a key part in finding and interacting with new players and teams,” Kemp said. “That will be a big opportunity for us.”

Kemp added that the Sixers sales and marketing team works with corporate partners for Team Dignitas, and this relationship with Facebook is very important because all the large brands already have partnerships with Facebook and understand the metrics.

“The interest in and level of fan engagement with players in the esports industry is unparalleled in professional sports today,” Chad Biggs, Philadelphia 76ers senior vice president of corporate partnership and activation, explained. “We are confident that opening up our broadcast to both the Facebook and Twitch audiences is a move that sets us apart from other esports teams, for both fans and partners.  The interest has been incredible and we anticipate announcing new, dynamic and differentiated corporate partnerships in the coming months.”

Kemp confirmed that in the coming months, Team Dignitas will announce four major new commercial partnerships that the Sixers have negotiated for the team, and this Facebook deal opens up new ways to connect these brands with fans.

“When we started working with the Sixers last October, we realized that the level of fan engagement and access to players in esports is unparalleled to the NBA or traditional sports,” Kemp said. “We believe Facebook will help us create strong, long-term partnerships with fans. That’s important for Team Dignitas as well as everybody in the esports ecosystem.”

The Sixers and Team Dignitas have worked on cross-promoting their NBA and esports fan bases across social media, including on Facebook and inside the Wells Fargo Center arena in Philadelphia. The Sixers NBA Development League (D-League) team, the Delaware 87ers (the Sevens), wear jerseys with the Team Dignitas brand on the front under the player’s name and number.

“Everything we do across the Sixers and Dignitas—we’re always looking for opportunities to cross-promote with our fan bases,” Kemp said. “I’m in Philly this week talking to the Sixers content and social media teams to explore new ways to work across these sports brands.”

Kemp admits that there’s not necessarily a huge crossover between the NBA and esports fans, but there’s a degree of interest. “As Sixers fans see Dignitas popping up in the stadium and on social media over the next three to five years, then that crossover becomes more important,” Kemp added.

Furthermore, Kemp admits that the NBA has been a leader in the esports space, even before the announcement of its NBA 2K ELeague partnership with Take-Two Interactive. “When you look at the amount of NBA teams, players and owners involved in esports versus other sports, the NBA looks at this space as interesting,” Kemp added. “We think NBA 2K ELeague will be exciting for esports fans and NBA fans. We think there’s going to be a lot of innovation around the teams and what they do in esports.”

Kemp believes the experience Team Dignitas has had in successfully managing eSports teams, running gaming houses and working with players, combined with the Sixers success in professional sports, provides an advantage for the team in the NBA ELeague that other NBA teams might not have.

When it comes to the Dignitas brand, Kemp believes the team is in a similar position as the Sixers in that it’s been around for 13 years and has had success along the way. “When we talk about branding and background with this innovative new ownership group, the similarities are pretty significant,” Kemp said. “There’s a lot to learn from what these guys have been through.”

It will take some time for Dignitas to become as mainstream as the Sixers and for esports to become as popular as the NBA, but that’s coming closer and closer to becoming a reality. “We’re utilizing the Sixers content guys to develop better content, and we’re working with their fan engagement team to find more meaningful ways to engage with fans,” Kemp added.

Kemp also met with the Sixers health, training and conditioning team to explore different ways to build out programs for teams that live in gaming houses and those who play remotely. There’s also the potential to bring teams through the Philadelphia training center.

“As we talk to commercial partners, so much is driven by commercial team at Sixers, how do we insert them into the fan story. We’ll be learning from them. Having PR side involved, continue to learn from people who have been successful,” said Kemp.