Esports 100 Thieves leader Nadeshot return to Call Of Duty with LA Thieves franchise

Esports company 100 Thieves announced today that it is entering the Call of Duty League (CDL) and will compete under the name of Los Angeles Thieves, confirming a leak first reported by Dexerto last week. It is acquiring the OpTic Gaming CDL slot from Immortals Gaming Company, confirmed by IGC CEO Ari Segal in a separate announcement.

Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but 100 Thieves COO John Robinson called the investment “significant”, noting that franchise values ​​have held up since Activision Blizzard set the entry fee for the city championship at $ 25 million in February 2019.

LA Thieves is the second 100 Thieves franchise, which paid $ 13 million for a League of Legends Champions Series (LCS) team in 2018.

A year ago, 100 Thieves founder and CEO Matt ‘Nadeshot’ Haag, a retired Call of Duty player whose name is synonymous with the game, said in a video that 100 Thieves sold a franchise due to cost. although no franchises were available. in his hometown. Settling in a new city would be so expensive that it jeopardized business, the 28-year-old said.

At the time, 100 Thieves had raised $ 60 million through two rounds of financing from investors including Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, Scooter Braun and Drake, but was tied to build a 15,000-square-foot multimedia production and facility. gambling in Los Angeles and focusing on its branded apparel business on which the company was founded in 2017.

“It was a painful experience to have a huge Call of Duty fan base and Nadeshot wasn’t able to participate in the community as if we had a franchise,” said Robinson. “We could tweet anything and the response from our followers was always,” great, but when are you going back to Call of Duty? “”

Robinson said he watched the CDL’s inaugural season closely, struck by the ease with which the league rotated during the pandemic from urban to online-only events. When he and Haag found out that the OpTic Gaming slot was likely available, they decided to take another look.

What they found was that they could easily move to an LA-based team and could change the name to reflect their brand, one of the most iconic in COD, options not initially available to them. They also finally got concrete information from the inaugural season to hang their hat on, including a YouTube rights broadcast deal and a record viewership for the CDL championship. The event peaked at over 330,000 spectators, making it the most viewed COD esports event ever.

They also saw longevity in the title of 17 years after the successful launch of Call of Duty’s Warzone in March, which boasted 60 million new players in the first two months and a mobile version that has been downloaded over 300 million times since its launch a year ago.

“Last year we would have made a lot of bets and without full knowledge of economics,” Robinson said of changing his mind to join the CDL. “With the data we’re seeing, we anticipate a multi-million dollar increase in revenue next year from just this. The math now works for us.”

While Haag played Warzone for last year, Robinson said he will not be out of retirement. Instead, 100 Thieves will keep the OpTic CDL team intact – a homecoming for players Austin ‘Slasher’ Liddicoat and Kenny ‘Kuavo’ Williams – but with their new name LA Thieves, with a new black and red logo and crest match the 100T logo.

The deal signals a change for Segal and IGC, which acquired OpTic last June through the purchase of its former parent, Infinite Esports & Entertainment, and reportedly sold the rights to the brand to the game’s founder and legend Hector. ” H3CZ “Rodriguez, currently co-CEO of the esports company NRG. Forbes estimates the deal is worth less than $ 10 million. Rodriguez is reportedly looking to rename the company’s current CDL franchise, the Chicago Huntsmen, to the OpTic name.

According to sources close to the company, IGC is also looking to sell the Los Angeles Valiant, an Overwatch League (OWL) franchise it acquired in 2018 for $ 20 million. If it is sold, it will only leave IGC with its League of Legends franchise. A year ago, the company predicted that revenue would double each year thanks to its position as the only US company to compete in each of the three major franchised esports leagues.