Atlanta and Guangzhou, China, are the next two cities to join the Overwatch League in '19, league officials and the new owners announced Thursday.
Cox Enterprises and Las Vegas-based advisory firm Province Inc. will own the Atlanta team through a new joint venture, Atlanta Esports Ventures, making it 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.
Prices were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the OWL’s expansion efforts said that the league 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. 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 Leagues President & 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.
ESPN first reported these sales as negotiations reached completion in recent days.
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.
Hamilton said that he is eager to partner with Cox and Activision Blizzard in an industry that has already proven its worth at home. "From a very basic level, the fact that my twin seven-year-olds and 10-year-old stop everything they’re doing when I get online and play, no matter what it is -- whenever I do business it has to speak to me on that basis," Hamilton said.
Atlanta was always a target city for OWL, Vlastelica said. A second team in China is especially valuable to the league -- upwards of half of all Overwatch League viewership comes from China, even though the first season included just one team, the historically uncompetitive Shanghai Dragons, which finished 0-40.
"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."
Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues CRO Brandon Snow, who used to run the NBA’s Chinese business, is giving a keynote address on the Overwatch League at the ChinaJoy digital entertainment expo in Shanghai.
Team identities will be announced later. Expansion teams have an exclusive window to sign free agents from Sept. 9 to Oct. 7.
