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The advance into esports by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund through the Savvy Gaming Group to acquire ESL Gaming and Faceit sounds the bell for a period of upheaval in the independent esports events landscape.
As part of the pending acquisitions, SGG agreed to acquire the 91.46% stake of ESL Gaming that is currently held by Swedish esports and gaming entertainment holding company Modern Times Group at an enterprise value of $1.05 billion and pay $500 million to acquire Faceit.
Under SGG, ESL Gaming and Faceit will be combined into the ESL Faceit Group to create an end-to-end solution for game publishers and developers, advertisers, esports organizations and communities with a product portfolio including some of esports’ most prominent brands (such as ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, DreamHack, Faceit and ESEA), event organization and commercialization, content and broadcasting services, online tournament platforms and merchandising.
While the group will pursue long-term investments and use synergies across its products and services to cross-pollinate, it intends to continue operating its individual brands as usual. Additionally, ESL and Faceit will retain their leadership teams in the new group, with ESL co-CEO Craig Levine and Faceit co-founder and CEO Niccolo Maisto appointed co-CEOs. ESL’s co-founder and co-CEO Ralf Reichert moves into a nonoperational role as executive chairman to support the leadership team. The leadership team will receive additional support from SGG CEO Brian Ward, a former Activision Blizzard executive, who is tasked with identifying additional investment targets in the market for the group.
MTG’s divestment of ESL Gaming ends the company’s esports investment chapter it opened seven years ago when it acquired a 74% stake in ESL for $87 million. MTG doubled down on its esports strategy in 2016 when it purchased DreamHack for $25.8 million and upped its stake in ESL in two additional tranches. In total, MTG is expecting to net $875 million from its ESL divestment, which represents a 2.5 times return on investment on capital.
The acquisition, which is part of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s greater strategy of empowering promising sectors to enhance the Saudi economy’s diversification of revenue, is expected to close in the second quarter this year. It must pass regulatory approvals in Sweden, England and Germany, including antitrust and foreign investment screening.
Eyes on Chelsea; NWSL shores up partners; New agency focused on equity and opportunity and people on the move.
SBJ I Factor presented by Allied Sports features an interview with SMAC Entertainment CEO and co-founder Constance Schwartz-Morini. Schwartz-Morini spent a decade at the NFL before joining broadcaster and NFL legend Michael Strahan to found SMAC, which sits at the center of sports, entertainment and pop culture. She was an SBJ Game Changers honoree in 2018. During her interview with SBJ’s Abe Madkour, she talks about changing her early focus from law to marketing, refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer, and how taking a chance on Hootie and the Blowfish helped get her start in entertainment marketing. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards, such as Forty Under 40, Game Changers and others.
The experience of attending an event starts far before the main event begins. Surrounding audiences with digital displays as they arrive and gather ensure you are providing them with all the information they need and kick starts the excitement around the event even sooner. In this episode, Daktronics' Professional Sports Sales Manager Brent Stevens and Oak View Group's President Global Venue Development & Special Projects Steve Collins discuss how they worked closely together to deliver these type of experiences using Daktronics digital signage. They highlight projects at Climate Pledge Arena and UBS Arena to share real-life examples of creating a full street-to-seat, immersive and engaging live event experience that also drives new revenue opportunities for the arenas.
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