Owners of the Boston Celtics and AS Roma have deepened their investment in eSports recently.
Jim Pallotta is a co-owner of the Celtics and president of AS Roma, an Italian soccer club. From both personal and professional holdings, he has augmented a $7 million Fnatic eSports investment campaign.
Mark J. Burns of SportTechie reports that in addition to investing his personal funds, Pallotta’s private investment company Raptor Group also took part in the capital campaign. The investment is an extension of eSports partnerships already in existence on both fronts.
Roma already had a deal with Fnatics in place that put three Fnatic FIFA players would wear Roma jerseys during competitions. Pallotta’s Celtics partner Wyc Grousbeck confirmed the Celtics’ plans to take part in the new NBA 2k league this summer last month.
This is another way in which NBA and soccer franchises are leading the way for traditional sports enterprises investing in eSports. Comparatively, MLB, the NFL and the NHL are lagging behind. The Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings are both invested in eSports and the Houston Rockets have a front-office person dedicated to determining how the franchise can get involved. NYCFC has recently signed its own FIFA eSports player.
The investments make sense for the NBA and soccer leagues, which consider themselves international brands. On top of the exposure their brands are getting in front of young audiences all over the world, Pallotta will enjoy the benefits of being an investor and could pass those along to the Celtics and Roma.
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While Fnatic is unlikely to turn down a significant investment from any source, having such high-profile partners helps to further establish the legitimacy of eSports as an investment. Multi-million dollar fundraising rounds with investors like the co-owner of an NBA team are sales pitches in and of themselves.
A few more capital campaigns like that, and owners of MLB, NFL and NHL franchises may not be able to resist the temptation any longer.