Toronto esports group adds to portfolio with European League of Legends franchise

TORONTO — OverActive Media Group, owner of Toronto’s new OverWatch franchise, has added a European League of Legends team to its esports portfolio.

The acquisition comes via an agreement in principal to buy Splyce, a U.S. outfit that runs seven international esports teams including the newly awarded League of Legends franchise in Europe.

OverActive had previously owned 10 per cent of Splyce.

Chris Overholt, president and CEO of OverActive Media, called the purchase agreement “a game-changer for our two organizations.” 

“League of Legends is arguably the biggest game in the world, has the biggest fan following in the world,” Overholt said in an interview.

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“The reason this is important to us is it’s consistent with what we’ve been telling you is our strategy,” added Overholt, former CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “We’re going to build a professional esports organization that — in the end — will look just like Madison Square Garden or just like Maple Leaf Sports (& Entertainment).

“We’re going to hold franchises in it that play in major leagues, predominantly in the city of Toronto but around the world. It gives us a global scale and scope in our business that frankly allows us to talk to our investors differently, allows us to talk to our global marketing partners differently.”

OverActive says the acquisition put it alongside Cloud9, Optic Gaming and Misfits as the only esports organizations in the world with permanent slots in both League of Legends and the Overwatch League.

Prior to the purchase agreement, OverActive media had five full-time employees

Splyce, which has some 24 full-time staff as well as more than 40 players and coaches, announced Tuesday it had acquired one of one of the 10 teams competing in Riot Games’ rebranded League of Legends European Championship League (LEC) for the 2019 season.

The team, likely to be based out of London, will be led by current coach Peter Dun. The European circuit begins play Jan. 18.

Splyce, which will remain in Rochester, N.Y., as a wholly owned subsidiary of OverActive, will have primary responsibility for team operations under the combined ownership group.

Formed in 2015, Splyce’s accomplishments include victories in the Smite World Championship (2018), Halo World Championship (2018), Marvel vs. Capcom World Championship (2017), Call of Duty World League Stage 1 Championship (2017) and World of Warcraft Championship (2016).

“Esports is growing to the next level of a global sustainable digital sports business and it will require expertise from a diverse background of entertainment professionals,” Splyce CEO Marty Strenczewilk said in a statement.

“Overactive is building a world-class organization with staff from the traditional sports world that will supplement Splyce perfectly. We are thrilled to mix our strengths into one unified leading esports organization.”

The OverActive ownership group includes tech entrepreneur Sheldon Pollack, venture capitalist Adam Adamou and Michael Kimel, part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins and co-founder of the Chase Hospitality Group.

The Toronto Defiant and a yet-to-be-named Vancouver franchise are set to join 18 other franchises in Season 2 of the Overwatch League, which also has teams in the U.S., China, England, France and South Korea.

The league is the brainchild of Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment, whose gaming portfolio also includes “World of Warcraft” and “StarCraft.”

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press