A group led by Warriors co-Owner Peter Guber and Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis has acquired e-sports franchise Team Liquid. The duo will serve as co-Chair of a new e-sports ownership entity, aXiomatic, and have hired former Mattel Toys and Sony Interactive Entertainment exec Bruce Stein as CEO. Co-investors include Magic Johnson, Lerner Enterprises, Leonsis’ Monumental Sports & Entertainment, NextVR, Dodgers CFO Tucker Kain and Warriors President & COO Rick Welts, among others. The partnership is just the latest group of traditional sports execs to invest in the growing e-sports space, following the 76ers’ acquisition of Team Dignitas and Team Apex yesterday and Celtics co-Owner James Pallotta’s backing of Fnatic. Team Liquid, with roots dating to '00, fields teams in 10 e-sports titles, including "League of Legends," "Counter-strike: Global Offensive" and "DOTA 2." According to its website, it has 11 endemic sponsors. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
MONEY TO SPEND: Current Team Liquid co-Owners Steve Arhancet and Victor Goossens will continue as minority partners and co-CEOs. They also will also serve as directors. In a blog post, Goossens wrote the team had considered a variety of options, including selling only a minority share, but came to find Guber, Leonsis and Stein ideal partners. Goossens and Arhancet both promised continuity to their fans, saying the investment makes their long-term involvement more certain, not less. A source said that Team Liquid is profitable, but needs additional capital to scale spending on talent and sales as money pours into the e-sports space. In addition to its competitive teams, it runs a series of news and feature websites serving the gaming community. Earlier this month, its owners agreed to join the Professional eSports Association, a new league that will launch a "CS:GO" tournament in January. It is the first e-sports league to mirror the traditional U.S. model, in which the league is owned by the teams themselves, with no organizing or media partner.
