Any remaining mental lines dividing sports and eSports continued to fade in the US this past week with the trifecta of news that included: the 76ers nabbing controlling stakes in Team Dignitas and Team Apex; Team Liquid selling controlling interest to an ownership group led Peter Guber and Ted Leonsis (along the likes of Magic Johnson); and the news that Grizzlies co-owner/vice chairman Stephen Kaplan is increasing his stake in The Immortals and joining the team’s board. These high-profile moves raise the stakes as eSports mines the resources and experience from within the traditional sports industry that includes key executive roles over the past couple of weeks at MLG and WESA for executives from FOX Sports and HBO Sports respectively.
The 76ers became the first North American sports team to acquire an eSports franchise with the pickup of Team Dignitas and Team Apex, which will now combine to play under the Team Dignitas banner. The Sixers will manage the day-to-day operations of the eSports squad, sharing best practices in sponsorship, sales, branding, digital marketing, merchandising, publicity and more; as well as devote resources to player recruitment, development and wellness.
“For us it was very much an opportunity to help turn Team Dignitas into the marquee eSports brand. We had to ask ourselves if we wanted to invest in eSports. The answer is yes, the numbers in eSports are incredible and it represents everything that our owners are all about, which is innovation in sports entertainment,” Akshay Khanna, Vice President of Strategy at the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cynopsis. He noted that synergies between the two organizations would open new doors for the eSports franchise. “In many ways, it is a completely different industry than traditional sports, but on other ways the skills and assets and resources required are not that different than what we can bring. We have a lot of resources that we can help with whether it is licensing or sponsorship sales or ticket sales or maybe an opportunity to shape future revenue streams that maybe don’t exist yet in the eSports space.”
Meanwhile, Steve Arhancet and Victor Goossens will continue in their respective roles as Co-CEOs of Team Liquid. Guber and Leonsis will serve as Co-Executive Chairmen of their new eSports ownership group aXiomatic.
“I think [the interest from sports entities] gives eSports more of a mainstream legitimacy,” Leonsis told ESPN. “There are talented people in this industry, and we will learn from them, and they will learn from us. We understand how to negotiate a CBA and naming rights, and how to sell media content to major networks. So we all add value, but so many people in this industry built this from scratch without us.”
Indeed, other teams welcomed the backing of the organizations. Jace Hall, CEO of Echo Fox, owned by NBA athlete Rick Fox, noted that “We continue to see increasing professional interest and involvement taking place in this ever expanding eSports opportunity and we are excited and supportive of the Philadelphia 76ers recent decision to engage,” he said. “As the number of experienced management organizations involved with eSports grow, the overall opportunity potential can be better realized. While Echo Fox is uniquely positioned to navigate and grow in this environment, it is also focused on encouraging and supporting others in the wider community where it can for the collective benefit of all.”
