Rovell: LCS rulings create opportunity, hesitation for traditional sports organizations
Quote:
Many sports teams are looking to make a move into esports. A representative for the Miami Dolphins told ESPN on Monday that the organization is preparing to jump into the fray.
"Esports is real, it's a fact," said Matt Higgins, co-founder of Stephen Ross' RSE Ventures and vice chair of the Miami Dolphins. "When you have tens of millions of people engaging online, eventually sponsors and rights buyers take notice. It's inevitable. We've been studying the space and plan to get involved very soon."
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This is all followup to Riot essentially kicking out 2 NA LCS teams, forcing their owners to sell in very short order. One of them, Team Impulse, seems pretty straightforward and not many people had issues with it. The players apparently didn't have contracts and weren't being paid reliably. The other, Renegades, is shrouded in controversy. There is likely some fire there, but there are tons of problems with all of this.
At the same time this is happening in NA there have been some stories posted recently talking about FC Schalke 04, a Bundesliga side in German soccer, potentially buying a EU League of Legends team.