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Jeremy Lin bought a DotA2 team.
American businessman and investor Wesley Edens, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and co-chairman of the Fortress Investment Group, is in the process of purchasing Cloud9 Challenger's League Championship Series spot and the contracts of four of the team's players for roughly $2.5 million, industry sources told ESPN. The deal is pending Riot Games' vetting process and approval.The spot alone reportedly is selling for $1.8 million, with player contract rights making up for the remaining $700,000 via buyouts, sources say.
The team initially was in talks to sell to an investment group from the United Arab Emirates, sources say, but that deal fell through, with Cloud9 moving on to Edens as its next in line.Edens comes as the fourth NBA-related owner currently in the North American League Championship Series should the deal go through. In late 2015, Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Stephen Kaplan, as a part of a fund, purchased Team 8's LCS spot, launching Immortals; he recently increased his stake in the organization. Shortly after, three-time NBA champion Rick Fox purchased an LCS slot for $1 million. This year, Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Guber and his group aXiomatic purchased Team Liquid and the Philadelphia 76ers purchased Team Dignitas and Apex Gaming. Earlier in December, the Houston Rockets became the first NBA franchise to hire an internal Director of Esports.
Quote from: bluemax on September 27, 2016, 12:15:54 AMJeremy Lin bought a DotA2 team. the sixers bought dignitas
“Good ‘D’ there,” he calls out. “Got to get a stop. … All right, good board. … Yo, everybody stay home on your shots.” And so on.Even as the score tightens and the players look winded, he never breaks a sweat. Austin “Boo” Painter plays basketball five days a week alongside his teammates, all lined up against one wall, all facing oversized screens and holding video-game controllers. Painter is the leading scorer for Wizards District Gaming, which is in the midst of its inaugural NBA 2K season, a fledgling league that’s backed by the NBA.The upstart is trying to capitalize on the esports explosion — big-name investors are lining up to get involved in various teams and leagues, and even the International Olympic Committee has taken an interest — and in the process the new NBA 2K League has helped carve out unlikely career paths for sports gamers, perhaps few as improbable as Painter’s.The 24-year old graduated from Old Dominion last spring. He almost immediately accepted a job with the State Department, underwent two months of training, received his security clearance — and then walked away from it all to play video games full time.“I get housing, everything’s paid for, and I get a good salary,” Painter says, by way of explanation. “I mean, I’m playing video games every day. So the decision was: stand up and walk around the State Department all day or play video games?”He has what is essentially a 9-to-5 job, reporting each day to the Wizards District Gaming facility in Chinatown, where he sits side-by-side with teammates and plays one NBA 2K game after another, prepping for the weekend competition in New York.
Painter says he was making $78,000 from his government job with a chance to earn even more in bonus money. The NBA 2K League promised him $32,000 for a six-month contract. If the team does well and somehow wins the championship, bonus money could bring his six-month salary closer to $100,000. (The money is essentially the same minimum salary offered in the developmental G League. The NBA actually had to boost its coffers to bring the G league’s salaries for actual basketball players in line with those of its new video game players.)With little trepidation, Painter quit his government job May 9 and signed his NBA contract a week later.At the end of the day, Painter retires to a luxury apartment a few Metro stops away where he rooms with a teammate. The team pays the $3,500 monthly rent there, a major perk offered to all players. The gamers pass time in the rooftop pool or on the complex’s real-life basketball court. They’ll often play non-sports games, such as Fortnite, to catch their breath.
"Download complete," laughed the best Street Fighter player in the world following his championship victory
