In a more bizarre story of the day, the Philadelphia 76ers have acquired two esports teams : Dignitas and Apex. This makes the 76ers the first North American professional sports team to own an esports team.
Terms were not initially discussed. Dignitas has been around for 13 years and has teams competing in five games: Overwatch, Counterstrike Go, League of Legends, Smite, and Heroes of the Storm. Apex is a newer team but has a spot in the highly competitive LCS.
Our Take
We expect this is only the first of many more similar announcements to come. Esports are growing rapidly and as it’s a largely untapped market in mainstream North America, we believe more and more companies will begin to tap into it. The next decade is going to be very interesting for gaming!
