New e-sports league to have Shock in S.F.
San Francisco has a new team. E-sports, which boasts the fastest-growing audience in the country, welcomes the first-ever geographically based video-game league — the brand-new Overwatch League — and San Francisco’s entry is named the Shock.
“We’re really excited,” said Andy Miller, a Sacramento Kings owner whose NRG Esports company owns the Shock.
Other NRG investors include fellow Kings owner Mark Mastrov, former NBA center Shaquille O’Neal, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch and former baseball infielders Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins.
“When it comes to viewership, the numbers are astounding, and we wanted to bring an Overwatch team to San Francisco — these are the best players in the world and this is the epicenter of gaming,” Miller said.
The Warriors are getting involved, too. The NBA champions’ $13 million purchase of a League of Legends team will be official next month; ESPN reported last week that the owners will be Golden State owner Joe Lacob and his son,
Kirk, but numerous sources told The Chronicle that the Warriors will be the owners. The team did not confirm the deal.
The Warriors’ team will be an expansion franchise based, like other League of Legends teams, in Los Angeles.
The Warriors’ other primary owner, Peter Guber, already holds a major investment in Team Liquid, an e-sports enterprise that fields teams in numerous games, and the Warriors and Kings also will field teams in the NBA 2K league that is set to begin next year.
Overwatch is one of the most popular multiplayer online first-person shooter games, with 35 million players and revenues over $1 billion, according to developer ActivisionBlizzard. E-sports’ global audience was 323 million in 2016 and by 2020 is expected to grow to 589 million, generating $1.488 billion, Newzoo reported this year.
The Shock, whose name and seismograph/Bay Bridge logo was unveiled Monday morning, will feature the hottest young Overwatch player; the team outbid its rivals in the 12-team team league for Jay “Sinatraa” Won, 17. Won cannot compete until he turns 18 in March, according to Miller, but his contract is worth $150,000 in a league in which the minimum is $50,000. Won, who is from Southern California, also will be entitled to 50 percent of team bonuses; adding him to the roster made it easier for the team to sign other top players, according to Miller.
Preseason play will begin Dec. 6 and the regular season Jan. 10, with playoffs and finals in July.
The Overwatch League will compete in Burbank (Los Angeles County) for its first season, but the second year is likely to include play in home markets. It’s unclear where the Shock would play its home matches, but a dedicated e-sports arena is scheduled to open near Jack London Square in Oakland in the next year. And Oracle Arena, the Warriors’ current home, is no stranger to gaming events, annually hosting the popular Intel Extreme Masters CS:Go and League of Legends championships. This year’s IEM event is Nov. 19-20.
Miller said that in conjunction with the new league, numerous Overwatch-related events will be held in the Bay Area next year, including amateur tournaments, and Miller expects that NRG will establish a local training center for a number of its teams — the company fields teams for nine games. The Shock’s territory extends from Sacramento to San Jose and includes the East Bay, the likely home for a training base.
“We want to have guys living around here and working here,” Miller said. “That’s the goal.”