Atlanta and Guangzhou, China, will join the Overwatch League in ‘19. Cox Enterprises and Las Vegas-based advisory firm Province Inc. will own the Atlanta team through a new joint venture, Atlanta Esports Ventures. It will be the second U.S. communications conglomerate to own a team after Comcast’s Philadelphia Fusion team. Guangzhou will be owned by the Nenking Group, a financial and entertainment conglomerate controlled by billionaire Zhong Naixoing that also owns the Guangzhou Long Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association. ESPN first reported these sales as negotiations reached completion in recent days. Prices were not disclosed, but sources said the OWL was seeking at least $30M for the expansion franchises, though that number could have doubled depending on competitive bids or the desirability of certain cities. The 12 charter spots in the league sold in ‘17 each sold for $20M. OWL hopes to finalize four more expansion deals this year, but Atlanta might be the only American city added. The second-year plan calls for two slots in North America, but one could come from outside the U.S., according to Activision Blizzard Esports CEO Pete Vlastelica. Currently, nine of 12 teams call U.S. cities home and 11 of the 12 teams are American-owned. “When all is said and done this year, we’ll have a more balanced league around the globe than we have today,” Vlastelica said.
DETAILS OF THE DEALS: Atlanta’s CEO will be Paul Hamilton, a principal at Province who developed a relationship with Cox through his role as President & CEO of The Greenspun Corp., a family office of the Las Vegas Sun publishing and real estate dynasty. Atlanta was always a target city for OWL, Vlastelica said. Meanwhile, a second team in China is especially valuable to the league, as upwards of half of all OWL viewership comes from China. “China is a priority market for the Overwatch League,” Vlastelica said. “With another Chinese team in the Overwatch League, we expect viewership to increase. Adding teams will grow the audience and give us more commercial opportunities there.”
