FaZe Clan is all set to partner up with Atlanta Esports Ventures in running the Atlanta franchise for the soon to launch Call of Duty League, the team will be called the Atlanta FaZe.
The Atlanta Esports Ventures (AEV) is a joint venture between Cox Enterprises and Province. AEV already owns the Atlanta franchise of Activision’s esports Overwatch League and had bought the Call of Duty League’s franchise rights from Activision earlier this year. The deal with FaZe allows AEV to have experienced Call of Duty players under its wings along with a decade worth of experience in marketing, merchandising and celebrity connections coming from the veterans working under FaZe Clan.
“We found partners that we love, which is not easy on both sides,” said FaZe Clan CEO Lee Trink recently about the partnership. “I wanted to look for a creative way to maintain our long-standing relationship with Call of Duty. How were we doing to do that in this new league? We certainly had lots of interesting conversations with a lot of team owners. (With the two partners) there was a mutual understanding of value and also an understanding of how the partnership will work.”
The Call of Duty (CoD) League is scheduled to debut in early 2020 with a total of 12 teams, including two from Europe. Similar to the Overwatch League, the Call of Duty League will require teams to be based in the city they represent.
Atlanta Esports already has an arena for its Overwatch team’s matches. Currently, the CoD team will play league matches in a variety of venues around the Atlanta region, and also hold different kinds of Call of Duty events around the community to further build up their the fan base, said Paul Hamilton, president and CEO of Atlanta Esports Ventures and a principal with Province. “We think that Atlanta is already an esports hub” said Hamilton.“They make the Avengers movies there. They’ve surpassed Hollywood in terms of making movies. The city is super progressive. It’s a city that’s embraced technology and esports. Atlanta is one of the youngest cities in the country, one of the most wired. It’s an unbelievable mix of cutting-edge businesses and successful technologies. We wanted to be in that space.” he added.
“We’ve stayed out of the franchised leagues,” Trink said. “This represented an opportunity to explore what that looks like up close and personal, and what that means outside of CoD.” commented Trink about the partnership.
The Atlanta FaZe players will be training alongside the Atlanta Reign in the city, in a 15,000 square foot facility being converted now in the West Midtown neighborhood, Hamilton said.
