AUSTIN, Texas — Brano Perkovich and the San Francisco 49ers aren’t too keen on owning an eSports team any time soon, according to the Chief Investment Officer.
Perkovich spoke at the annual South by Southwest Conference this past weekend on a panel titled, ‘Hitting the Next Home Run: Investing in Sports’. When panelists were asked by moderator Akshay Khanna, Philadelphia 76ers Vice President of Strategy, about their short and long-term investments, Perkovich said he was short on eSports teams.
“We like eSports a lot. We actually invested in an eSports technology company, but our view today has been that owning an eSports team is probably not the right place for us as an organization,” he said.
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Last month, some 49ers owners and executives participated in a $15 million Series A round for gaming platform Plays.tv, which Perkovich referenced in his answer. He explained that Levi’s Stadium, home of the 49ers and which seats 70,000 people, doesn’t particularly lend itself to hosting eSports. Additionally, he said the biggest question right now for him and the organization is where is the value on the ownership investment?
“eSports, while I’m long overall, on the ownership side we’ll stay on the sidelines for now,” said Perkovich as he concluded his response.
The 76ers, who were represented by Akshay, was the first U.S. professional sports team to purchase eSports franchises last September as they combined Team Apex and Team Dignitas under the latter’s name. During the same week, NBA team owners Magic Johnson, Peter Guber and Ted Leonsis acquired the controlling interest in Team Liquid while Memphis Grizzlies Co-Owner and Co-Executive Chairman Steve Kaplan increased his stake in eSports team Immortals.
Since those three separate announcements, the eSports world has seen an investment frenzy that continues to grow on almost a weekly basis, as other professionals teams like the Miami Heat have acquired a stake in an eSports organization. Just recently, the NBA also announced it would become the first U.S. professional sports league to operate an eSports league, which will center around NBA 2K.