On the one hand, a young league, in search of funding and media coverage. On the other, an e-commerce giant seeking to establish itself as an internationally referenced player in sports broadcasting.
In short, two camps which had convergent interests, and which formalize a partnership: the Overtime Elite, founded in 2021, and Amazon have effectively signed a contract to broadcast the matches on the video platform of the American company, Prime Video.
According to information from Front Office Sports, the partnership is for three years and begins this season, only the second in the Overtime Elite. On the program: the broadcast of 20 matches per season on certain Friday and Saturday evenings, which represents a large third of the schedule for a full season in this league, but also the production of a docu-series which will be broadcast next spring.
” In the words of some great athletes, we had ‘bet on ourselves’ “. said Dan Porter, the chief executive of media company Overtime. ” We have millions of subscribers, our meetings are very widely followed, both live and in replay. […] So we are building a big project, and we are trying to spread our league all over the world. »
What is Overtime Elite?
Owned by the company Overtime, founded in 2016 and specializing in the production of sports content on social networks, the Overtime Elite is a professional league created last year and aimed at young basketball players aged 16 to 20. year.
Based in Atlanta, this league offers two options. The professional route, which allows you to earn a salary whose guaranteed minimum is still around $100,000 but which “removes” university eligibility, or the “student” route, which allows players to follow a course similar to that which they would follow in high school, while maintaining their college eligibility since they receive no salary. The young Eli Ellis, for example, recently opted for the second option.
In other words, it’s a new path to the NBA that is opening up for high school students, a new league whose ambition is to compete with Team Ignite and especially the unstoppable NCAA, in the race to recruit the best young talents.
Precisely, among the “big names” in the sphere of prospects, the Overtime Elite has, for example, secured the services of the twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, widely considered as “lottery picks” for the 2023 Draft, but also of Naas Cunningham, currently ranked 3rd among the best players in the class of 2024. Olivier Sarr’s little brother, Alexandre, also joined the program in the summer of 2021.
