Evil Geniuses Returns to League of Legends
Following up on the news that they would be returning to CS:GO this weekend at ESL One New York, Evil Geniuses (EG) have decided that one team in a tier-one esport wasn’t enough and have announced their return to League of Legends in the form of an LCS franchise spot for the 2020 season.
After five years away from the scene, EG is making its triumphant return following a change in ownership and management back in May that has seen them reestablish themselves as a top org.
The Deal
The team acquired their place in the LCS by buying out Echo Fox’s slot that has been up for sale by Riot since August following the team’s removal from the league for racial comments by one if it’s investors.
EG had tried previously to purchase the team for $30 million dollars earlier in the year, though at the time Rick Fox noted they didn’t take the offer due to a lack of tangible evidence that they had that money available.
EG’s new ownership group, PEAK6, appeared to not be happy someone questioned their wealth and has come back around, this time through Riot, to prove they had the backing to get the franchise spot.
Riot recently approved the deal, as made evident by their release of a video wishing the Worlds 2019 teams good luck from all the 2020 LCS teams, which included Evil Geniuses along with Dignitas, who bought-out Clutch Gaming, and Immortals, who bought out the entire OpTic org.
The Evil Geniuses League of Legends franchised spot deal was estimated to be in the $30-$40,000,000 range, bringing their combined purchase between this and CS:GO to $33-$43,000,000.
New Sugar Daddy
Many had questioned where EG had suddenly acquired all this money after years of slow decline for the org, though those questions quickly fade when you look at PEAK6, their parent company.
The investment firm has a massive portfolio of companies and groups they’ve invested or have ownership of, including AS Roma, Robinhood (an investing app), PopSocket, and MoneyLion amongst others.
They also own digital business investment firm Apex Clearing, flood insurance firm National Flood Service, and their own personal capital management company PEAK6 Capital Management, meaning they have a vast amount of wealth in their “warchest” to pull from for these spots.
EG has made a massive revival under their several months in charge, so clearly PEAK6 takes their move into esports very seriously, a great thing for the team.
The revival hasn’t been without some losses, though, as the org has dropped out of Call of Duty in the process of picking these two new teams, but given the concerns surrounding the value of spots in that franchised league, it’s looking like it was completely worth it.
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