Investments in esports is almost as popular as investments crypto-currency. Celebrities tend to put up their money in teams and esports clubs.
Recently Will Smith invested his money in Gen.G esports, it's a famous Korean organization. The popular actor is not the first celebrity that has decided to put up their money in esports. This company had also been invested by Dennis Wong, a co-owner of Clippers, and also Michael Zeisser.
Three-point investments
Current and former NBA players were one of the first to invest money in esports. But the investments were not only money. The sportsmen had not only their funds get paid off but make the investors more famous.
Rick Fox invested in Echo Fox
In December 2015, Rick Fox decided to invest a big sum of money in esports. He is a former player of the titled team «Los Angeles Lakers». The basketball player bought a Gravity slot in NA LCS before the very end of the League of Legends season 2019. Rick Fox founded a team mentioning his name in the name of the team. The logo is a symbol resembling a basketball. Rumor has it that the cost of this deal reached one million dollars.
Some time later the company became multigaming. It found good rosters for the most popular fightings. For instance, Street Fighter, Injustice 2 and others. These very esports disciplines made the club known in 2018 on popular esports portals. Dominique McLean, SonicFox, got a title of the best player according to The Game Awards 2018.
Shaquille O'Neal invested in NRG Esports
Shaquille O'Neal also decided to put up in the game industry. Unlike Rick Fox, he just invested money in NRG eSports together with such famous baseball players as Jimmy Rollins and Alex Rodriguez. His investment turned out to be profitable — today the club has their own rosters with nine esports disciplines. Among them — Apex Legends, Overwatch, CS:GO.
But the money investment is not the only one made by Shaquille O’Neal. He put his heart and name in the business. Today he works as a host of the media company Turner Sports that owns the ELEAGUE tournament operator. It helped him to star in a commercial of CS:GO championships. He also managed to take part in the Street Fighter competition.
Jeremain O’neal and his investment in Team VGJ
In September 2016, the current player of the club «Toronto Raptors» NBA Jeremy Lin invested on Dota 2 professional esport. The sportsman put his money in Vici Gaming, making a Team VGJ roster. Letter J in this abbreviation stands for «Jeremy».
The Chinese esportsmen demonstrated good results; one year later the new roster appeared in America. The teams were called VGJ.Storm and VGJ.Thunder. A bit later Roman Fominok, Resolution, joined the team helping the players to achieve Top 8 at The International 2018. But in the season 18/19, both of the teams splitted and the club changed into J.Storm. Now it is represented by exceptionally American Dota 2 roster.
Michael Jordan also falls for esports
Jerebko, the power forward of «Boston Celtics», not only bought the team but managed to helped the organization not to become a bankrupt. We talk about Renegades, this team sold a slot to LCS in 2016. SO they had to miss all the majors in the CS:GO discipline. The investment of the famous basketball player let the club function along with create new subdivisions.
Michael Jordan neither changed the names of the clubs nor invested money in the teams directly. In fall in 2018, he put his money in the Team Liquid company. The investment conditions were not revealed, as they kept it as a commercial confidentiality.
Meyers Leonard, the player of «Portland Trail Blazers» has also put his money in esports. Talking about the deal with FaZe Clan, he reported that the club is a leader among teams and content creators. So, being a true gamer, he couldn’t but stay away from the events. The basketball player promised to start working with the company in summer 2019. Now he wears sneakers with the FaZe logo for his games.
Musicians also want to invest in esports
Stars in the music industry are also involved in the esports investment. Some of them have decided to buy esports clubs. But some of them got only single investments. Musicians tend to watch popular streams but not invest money in the game industry.
Imagine Dragons invested in Rogue
Steve Aoki, the popular American DJ, bought the team Rogue in 2016. The deal let more interesting and profitable investments happen. Two years later the musicians from the legendary band Imagine Dragons invested in the team ReKTGlobal.
Let’s highlight the fact that the guitar player and the drummer of the band became co-owners of Rogue. In 2014. the band Imagine Dragons performed at the League of Legends world championship with their hit Warriors. The money was invested in the perspective; it was necessary for the team to have their own slot in the American league.
Drake invested in 100 Thieves
Gamers know a little about Drake, the musician got popular in the sphere only thanks to the meme with him and a Fortnite stream with Tyler Blevins. The stream got really popular breaking all the records of viewers on the channel at the same time. We think that this very fact made Drake invest a considerable sum unto esports in a half of a year.
In October 2018, the rapper signed a contract with 100 Thieves, that had already been playing with for NA LCS and they already had a Fortnite roster. Drake became the co-owner of the organization, but his part in it is not publicized.
Jennifer Lopez together with The Weekend invested money in Overwatch
Jennifer Lopez followed the model of Shaquille O’Neal making an investment in fall 2017 in the company NRG eSports. The singer recorded a public speech to the fans of the club and she was used in the announce of the Overwatch roster.
On 10 April 2019, The Weekend also put up in esports. The hip-hop musician didn’t buy any organization but invested money in OverActive Media. The company also has shares on the Splyce club.
Esports dribbling
The fans of football get information that their favorites are hardcore fans of computer games over the last several years. Some of them even communicate with esportsmen. But due to some unknown reasons, not so many football players decided to invest their money in the esports industry.
In 2017, significant sums were invested in esports by three famous football players. Ronaldo was one of the first who decided to make this step. He became a co-owner of the team CNB e-Sports Club, playing for League of Legends. The team didn’t make any action together with the esportsman. Only the fact that Ronaldo was of the investors attracted a big amount of fans.
Half a year later, G2 Esports reported about almost the same collaboration. Their investor was Andre Gomes, famous central midfielder of «Barcelona» everywhere around the world. Carlos Rodriguez Santiago didn’t reveal the sum of the investment. Instead of it he starred in an entertaining video for fans.
