Overtime Elite doesn’t currently have a traditional media rights deal lined up, but Overtime hoping enough momentum grows for its startup basketball league to secure one in a few years. The league–mostly made up of elite high school basketball players–opens play today.
OTE sports investors like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Drake–aiming to be a professional haven for the best high school players in the country to grow their game, make money, and receive an education.
Sportico caught up with founder and CEO Dan Porter to gauge his goals for the league over the next few years. Porter is the brain behind Overtime’s social media rise, which is the whole reason this league came together. Porter started the social media-based company in 2016, and it now boasts over five million Instagram followers.
Porter isn’t eyeing a media deal currently but told Sportico he’d like to secure one within “three or four years.”
“We want to develop an audience that’s global in nature,” Porter told the site earlier this month. “One that’s big in Europe, and eventually in Asia, and not just North American-focused.”
How they will get to international fame without television remains a bit murky but they are documenting all of the player’s journeys throughout the season. A lot of that coverage will come in the form of YouTube and social media videos to attract new fans and corporate sponsors.
The league held its Pro Day last week at a brand-new facility in Atlanta, GA, and a few journalists, including The Athletic’s John Hollinger, came away impressed.
“They pretty clearly spent some money on it,” Hollinger said on the Hollinger & Duncan NBA Show. “You could tell a pretty significant investment was made and that they had their sh*t together. The day was completely organized and I’ve been to a lot of workouts where that certainly was not the case.”
Now, who else will the league start scheduling for this unique group of players to take on? Answers to that question should arise throughout the league’s inaugural season.