Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has added another professional sports franchise to his roster, but don't expect to see Team Liquid playing in the Verizon Center. Team Liquid is one of the most prominent teams in the world of esports, professional video games. A group of investors ranging from Leonsis and fellow Revolution partners Steve Case and Donn Davis, to former NBA star Magic Johnson, have teamed up to form the new aXiomatic esports ownership group and acquired a majority stake in the Team Liquid franchise.
Esports are essentially high-stakes video game tournaments. To give you an idea, this year's international competition in Defense of the Ancients 2 pitted 80 players in 16 teams against each other for a prize pool of about $20.7 million. Team Liquid came in seventh place and earned about $519,000, while Wings Gaming won the tournament and $9.1 million. Team Liquid counts HTC and Alienware among its sponsors, helping the more than 50 players broke up into ten teams, afford to be able to spend a lot of time practicing.
Former Mattel and Sony Interactive CEO Bruce Stein will run aXiomatic, while Leonsis becomes co-executive chairman of Team Liquid with Los Angeles Dodgers and Golden State Warriors owner Peter Guber. Steve Arhancet and Victor Goossens will maintain their positions as co-CEOs at Team Liquid.
While most of the investors are declining to comment, there are hints that this is more than just a fun place for the investors to put their money. Together, aXiomatic represents a who's-who of recognizable names from sports, business and entertainment. Former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones is on there with Magic Johnson. Washington Nationals majority owner Lerner Enterprises and professional tennis team Washington Kastles owner Mark Ein are there along with other professional sports owners. Big D.C. names beyond the Revolution partners include SWaN & Legend Venture Partners managing directors Fred Schaufeld and Tony Nader and Kiswe Mobile Chairman Jeong Kim.
