Greg Richardson, chairman of Team Dignitas (left), and Akshay Khanna, vice president of strategy for the Philadelphia 76ers.
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The Philadelphia 76ers and Team Dignitas reveal the parallels between esports and traditional sports

When the number of fans watching esports tournaments began to surpass the numbers viewing the NBA finals, traditional sports companies, such as the Philadelphia 76ers, were taken aback.

And that is one reason that in September 2016, the NBA’s 76ers became the first major North American sports franchise to have its own esports team. It actually acquired two separate squads — Dignitas and Apex — and merged them into one as Team Dignitas.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.