MANILA, Philippines—With live basketball on halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Fiba is launching its first international esports tournament for national teams.
The inaugural Fiba Esports Open 2020 will feature exhibition e-basketball games with 17 countries participating, including the Philippines. The tournament will be held from June 19 to 21 using the NBA 2K Pro-Am mode for remote play.
Other countries include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Cyprus, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.
“The Esports initiative was identified by the FIBA Central Board as important and consistent with the strategic objective to enlarge the FIBA Family,” said Frank Leenders, FIBA Media and Marketing Services Director General.
“In these challenging times, we feel encouraged by the enthusiasm of some of our National Federations who are already active in this space and have been our charter partners during the last few months.”
Each team will consist of seven players, five on the court and two reserves. Games will be played using the Pro-Am mode of NBA 2K that gives a fully customizable experience from player avatars, uniforms, and home arenas.
The Fiba Esports Open 2020 series will be produced at Fiba Esports studio in Riga, Latvia, with its daily four-hour shows featuring up to six games.
Each game will be livestreamed on Fiba’s social media channels on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube with live commentary in English.
“NBA 2K is honored to partner with FIBA in creating the FIBA Esports Open 2020, ” said Jason Argent, Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations at 2K. “Through these matches, we’re excited to be able to celebrate the global appeal of basketball.”