M League Organization
M League Organization operates Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, M.LEAGUE, with 10 teams and 40 players broadcast exclusively on ABEMA. It monetizes through corporate sponsorships, fan memberships, merchandise, and live events for mahjong fans and brand partners.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersMinato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What M League Organization does
M League Organization (一般社団法人M機構) is a Tokyo-based general incorporated association that operates M.LEAGUE, Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, founded in July 2018. The league currently fields 10 teams and 40 professional players drawn from Japan's five major professional mahjong associations, with matches broadcast exclusively on ABEMA (CyberAgent) across a regular season of approximately 300 matches, a semi-final series, and a final series. The organization serves two core constituencies: mahjong enthusiasts who engage through fan membership, merchandise, and live events, and corporate sponsors/team owners (including Daiwa Securities, ZOZO, KONAMI, Sega Sammy, KADOKAWA, U-NEXT, and Asahi Shimbun) seeking brand exposure to the mahjong demographic. Representative Director and Chairman Fujita Susumu (founder, CyberAgent CEO) leads the organization.
The league's underlying technology consists of a standardized competition format ("M League Rules") played on professional-grade automated mahjong tables supplied by Taiyo Giken, an exclusive ABEMA streaming pipeline that includes the dedicated Mahjong Channel and original content such as M Tournament, and a digital product surface that includes M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS (built on ventus's ORICAL platform), AR-enabled 3D content via the HoloModels app, and a multi-channel retail and e-commerce operation (M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL SHOP, 4 permanent stores plus nationwide pop-ups, plus an online store hosted on Maruzen Junkudo). The organization also produces the off-season M Tournament (30 million yen prize pool in 2026) and community events such as the Kids Mahjong Festival, and has launched a series of fashion collaborations with ZOZOTOWN, fragment design, and Sanrio Characters to broaden the fan base.
Revenue is generated across five streams: broadcasting/licensing with ABEMA, the Official Supporter membership (¥7,150 annually, ¥16,500-18,500 replica uniforms), tiered corporate sponsorships (title, top, regular, supplier), merchandise sales (digital trading cards, wafer collectibles, apparel, accessories, AR products), and event ticket sales (Premium Night tickets from ¥18,000 to ¥360,000 for suite rooms). International distribution began in late 2024 via Shanghai Zhongxi Sports, bringing M.LEAGUE content to Bilibili, Douyin, and Douyu in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), and the league held its first US event — M.LEAGUE MEETUP in LAS VEGAS at AMOS FESTIVAL 2025 — in June 2025.
M League Organization firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- M League Organization
- Legal name
- 一般社団法人のM联赛機構 (General Incorporated Association M League Organization)
- Website
- https://m-league.jp
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- M League Organization operates Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, M.LEAGUE, with 10 teams and 40 players broadcast exclusively on ABEMA. It monetizes through corporate sponsorships, fan memberships, merchandise, and live events for mahjong fans and brand partners.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
M League Organization industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Professional Sports League
- NAICS
- Sports Teams and Clubs (711211), Spectator Sports (71121)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Individual-Sport Clubs & Teams (Cycling Teams, Athletics/Track Clubs, Swimming Clubs, etc.) (MPAKABAD)
Keywords
Where M League Organization is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Minato-ku, Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices5 records
Markets served
M League Organization business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Broadcasting Rights: M League games are exclusively broadcast on ABEMA (CyberAgent), providing streaming revenue through the television/online platform partnership.
- Official Supporter Membership: Fan membership program (年間7,150円) offering merchandise, event tickets, and exclusive benefits to support teams or the league.
- Merchandise Sales: Sales of official goods including replica uniforms, apparel, accessories, trading cards, and collaborative products through official online store, physical shops, and pop-up stores.
- Sponsorship: League-wide and team-level sponsorship deals with various companies including title sponsors, top sponsors, regular sponsors, and official suppliers.
- Event Revenue: Revenue from ticket sales for public viewing events, Premium Night events, and National tour viewings at cinema complexes.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Official Supporter membership for one team |
| Subscription | Annual | M League Supporter (league-wide) |
| Other | One time | Reprint member card |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Shipping fee for merchandise |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Premium Night tickets - Arena support seat |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Premium Night tickets - Suite room |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Wafer collectible box |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Fan goods - Uchiwa (fan) |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Fan goods - Bromide L-size |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Fan goods - Bromide 2L-size |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Replica uniform |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Name-print replica uniform |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Public viewing opening match ticket |
| Unit Pricing | One time | Championship commemorative goods |
| Unit Pricing | One time | FRGMT Collaboration items |
| Unit Pricing | One time | National tour viewing tickets - A seat |
| Unit Pricing | One time | National tour viewing tickets - B seat |
| Unit Pricing | One time | AR acrylic smartphone stand |
| Unit Pricing | One time | 3D digital content data |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels8 records
Marketing channels10 records
M League Organization product offering
Product offeringCore offering
M League Organization operates the M.LEAGUE, Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, running regular season, semi-final, and final series with 10 teams and 40 players across more than 400 matches per season, broadcast exclusively on ABEMA. The organization supports the league through an Official Supporter fan membership, M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS (digital collectibles), merchandise retail via physical shops and online store, and special events such as M Tournament, Premium Night, and Kids Mahjong Festival.
Product overview
M League Organization operates the M League (M.LEAGUE), Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, as its core product. The organization supports the league through official merchandise (M.LEAGUE Official Shop with physical stores and online store), fan membership (Official Supporter program), and digital collectibles (Official Trading Cards via ORICAL platform). Key product lines include fashion collaborations (ZOZOTOWN, fragment design FRGMT, Sanrio Characters), seasonal events (M Tournament, Kids Mahjong Festival), and regional POP UP STOREs across Japan. The league consists of 10 teams with 40 professional players competing in regular season, semi-finals, and finals format.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- M.LEAGUE | FRGMT: Collaboration brand with fragment design (藤原ヒロシ氏主宰) featuring fashion items such as hoodies, t-shirts, crew neck sweats, and blankets.
- FRAGMENT ORPHANS
- Mトーナメント
- M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS
- M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL SHOP
Products and services
- M.LEAGUE (M League) Professional Mahjong League The core professional mahjong competition featuring 10 teams of 4 players each (40 professional players total) competing across a regular season of 120 matches per team, followed by semi-finals and finals. Matches are broadcast live on ABEMA with standardized M League Rules.
- Official Supporter Membership
- M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL SHOP (Physical and Online Retail)
- M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS Digital trading card service on the ORICAL platform by ventus, allowing fans to collect, trade, and rank player and team cards digitally, including special collaboration cards.
- M Tournament (Mトーナメント) ABEMA original off-season tournament featuring M-leaguers plus highest-ranked players from major pro associations. 60-72 participants compete for a 30 million yen total prize pool, with M Tournament 2026 being the largest in individual mahjong titles.
- M.LEAGUE Premium Night
- M.LEAGUE National Tour Public Viewing
- M League Kids Mahjong Festival
- M.LEAGUE | FRGMT Fashion Collection
- ZOZOTOWN x M League Fashion Collaboration
- M League x Sanrio Characters Collaboration
- AR Acrylic Smartphone Stand
- M.LEAGUE Wafer Collect Box
- M League x Boss Coffee Collaboration
- M.LEAGUE MEETUP in Las Vegas
Quantifiable outcome
- EX風林火山 won their 2nd championship in 2025-26 season (previously won 2020-21)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use M League Organization
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
M League Organization technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature3 records
M League Organization partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
27 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, regular and minor.
- 大正製薬 (Taisho Pharmaceutical)coreTop sponsor for 2025-26 season. Contract period April to August 2026.
- 株式会社サンリオ (Sanrio)majorCharacter collaboration. Sanrio's popular characters (including Hello Kitty) combined with M League for merchandise and trading card collaborations.
- 大和証券 (Daiwa Securities)coreTitle sponsor for regular season. Daiwa Securities is a major Japanese securities and financial services company. Contract period 2025-09 to 2026-08. Provides league naming rights for the regular season period.
- 株式会社ZOZOcoreTitle sponsor for semi-finals and finals. Fashion e-commerce company operating ZOZOTOWN. Also provides fashion collaboration merchandise sold exclusively on ZOZOTOWN.
- 株式会社朝日奈社 (Asahi Shimbun)majorOfficial media partner and postseason title sponsor (formerly postseason冠 sponsor). Major Japanese newspaper company providing media coverage and postseason sponsorship.
- menu株式会社majorTop sponsor. Food delivery and takeout app operator.
- 株式会社ventusmajorTop sponsor (promoted from regular sponsor in 2025-26). Provides digital trading card service (ORICAL platform) for M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS. Sports/ entertainment fan business specialist.
- 索尼損害保険 (Sony Sompo)regularRegular sponsor. Non-life insurance company.
- 株式会社WinTicketregularRegular sponsor. Smartphone information service operator.
- 株式会社ジャパネットブロードキャスティング (Japanet Broadband Broadcasting)regularRegular sponsor. BS10 broadcaster.
- LED TOKYO株式会社regularRegular sponsor. LED vision sales and rental digital signage company. Also hosted collaboration events at LED DAIBA STUDIO venue.
- 株式会社anemoneregularRegular sponsor. Beauty salon chain operator (100 stores nationwide).
- ローソンチケット (Lawson Ticket)regularTicket sales partner for official events and public viewings.
- ABEMA (CyberAgent)coreExclusive broadcasting partner for all M League matches on 麻雀チャンネル (Mahjong Channel). Also produces original content including M Tournament and special events. Live broadcasts draft conferences and all official matches.
- 株式会社ローソン・ユナイテッドシネマ (Lawson United Cinemas)majorNational tour partner. 42 theaters, 391 screens nationwide for public viewing events. Also sells official merchandise and wafer collectibles.
- UVERworldmajorOfficial song provider for 2025-26 season. New song 'NO MAP' used as official song. 4th consecutive season providing official songs.
- AMOS FESTIVAL (Las Vegas)minorFirst US event. M.LEAGUE MEETUP in LAS VEGAS held June 1, 2025 at Treasure Island Hotel. Part of AMOS FESTIVAL 2025 international mahjong tournament.
- 上海中玺体育有限公司 (Shanghai Zhongxi Sports)majorInternational distribution partner for China. Provides streaming on Bilibili, Douyin, and other Chinese platforms. Covers regular season, semi-finals, and finals from 2024-25 season. Excludes Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan.
- 株式会社ローソン (Lawson)majorPrint-on-demand service (Lawson Print) for official merchandise including bromides and uchiwa fans. Also distributes wafer collectible boxes.
- 藤原ヒロシ fragment (fragment design)majorFashion collaboration partnership. Designer Hiroshi Fujiwara's global street fashion brand. Multiple collaboration items released (3rd wave in 2026). Fashion x Mahjong crossover initiative.
- 渋谷横丁 (Shibuya Yokocho)minorRegional food alley collaboration. Entertainment and regional soul food venue partnership.
- ジャンカラ (Jankara)minorKaraoke chain collaboration (181 stores in West Japan). Joint events during 2024-25 season.
- サントリーフードスペシャルインターラショナル (Suntory Boss)minorCoffee collaboration product 'Boss 勝負の一手' released during 2024-25 season.
- トレンダーズ株式会社 (Trenders)regularRegular sponsor. Marketing and investment company.
- 株式会社丸善ジュンク堂書店 (Maruzen Junkudo)coreRegular sponsor. Operates official shops in their bookstores and the online store. Bookstore chain with approximately 100 stores nationwide.
- ミズノ株式会社 (Mizuno)coreOfficial supplier. Manufactures official game uniforms and replica/license merchandise. Major Japanese sporting goods manufacturer.
- 大洋技研株式会社 (Taiyo Giken)coreOfficial supplier. Provides official mahjong tables and tiles for league matches. Mahjong product manufacturer.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
M League Organization competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- FIDE (International Chess Federation): Governing body for international chess competition, organizing structured tournaments, world championships, and online competition. Comparable as a professionalized intellectual sport federation with broadcast and sponsorship monetization.
- PokerStars Live / PokerGO: Operates professional poker tours and streaming content focused on competitive intellectual card play. Comparable in monetizing professional intellectual card-game competition via streaming, sponsorships, and international events.
Direct peers
- League of Legends Japan League (LJL): Japan's professional League of Legends league operated by Riot Games. Closely comparable in streaming-first broadcast model, team-based franchise structure, and Japanese competitive ecosystem positioning, despite competing in esports rather than traditional sports.
- World Series of Poker (WSOP): Premier professional poker competition circuit with structured tournament formats, broadcasting partnerships, and prize pools. Comparable as a professionalized intellectual card-game competition with broadcast monetization and international fanbase.
- Overwatch League: Franchise-based competitive league with team owners, regular season + playoffs structure, and exclusive streaming partnerships. Closely mirrors M League's franchise-sports-league structure, although operated at a larger and now-rebooted scale.
- B.League: Japan's professional men's basketball league, organized as a franchise-based league with corporate-backed teams, regular season + playoff format, and broadcast distribution. Closely comparable structural model to M League within Japanese professional sports.
Broad incumbents
- Japan Sumo Association: Governing body for professional sumo in Japan, operating a structured tournament schedule with televised broadcasts. Comparable as a Japanese traditional professional sports organization with league-style scheduling and broadcast-driven monetization.
- NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball): Japan's professional baseball organization, the established incumbent in Japanese professional team sports. Comparable in team-ownership and broadcasting-rights model, but operates at significantly larger audience scale.
- J.League: Japan's professional soccer league, the largest franchise-based professional sports league in Japan by audience and revenue. Comparable in league/team structure and broadcast-driven model, but at materially larger scale and mainstream reach.
Others
- Konami (eFootball League / Pro Baseball Spirits): Owns one M League team (KONAMI麻雀格闘倶楽部) and operates the Mahjong Fight Club online platform integrated into M League events. Comparable as both an M League partner and a parallel organizer of competitive game/sports formats.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
M League Organization social profiles
Digital presenceM League Organization financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
M League Organization leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
M League Organization funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
M League Organization M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about M League Organization
What does M League Organization do?
M League Organization operates the M.LEAGUE, Japan's first professional team-based national mahjong league, running regular season, semi-final, and final series with 10 teams and 40 players across more than 400 matches per season, broadcast exclusively on ABEMA. The organization supports the league through an Official Supporter fan membership, M.LEAGUE OFFICIAL TRADING CARDS (digital collectibles), merchandise retail via physical shops and online store, and special events such as M Tournament, Premium Night, and Kids Mahjong Festival.
Is M League Organization a public or private company?
M League Organization is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was M League Organization founded?
M League Organization was founded in 2018.
Where is M League Organization based?
M League Organization is headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does M League Organization make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Broadcasting Rights are the primary driver. The others are official Supporter Membership, merchandise Sales, sponsorship and event Revenue.
Who are M League Organization's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are FIDE (International Chess Federation) and PokerStars Live / PokerGO. Direct peers are League of Legends Japan League (LJL), World Series of Poker (WSOP), Overwatch League and B.League. Broad incumbents are Japan Sumo Association, NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) and J.League. Konami (eFootball League / Pro Baseball Spirits) is listed as an others.
Does M League Organization have an API?
No public API is recorded for M League Organization.
What industry is M League Organization in?
M League Organization's product category is Professional Sports League. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAKABAD, Individual-Sport Clubs & Teams (Cycling Teams, Athletics/Track Clubs, Swimming Clubs, etc.). Its NAICS code is 711211 and its SIC code is 7997.