The Madison Square Garden Company has confirmed in an announcement its acquisition of a controlling stake in Counter Logic Gaming.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A powerhouse in the sports world, The Madison Square Garden Company owns the NBA team New York Knicks.[/perfectpullquote]

This deal will be the first esports investment for the New York based sports company, signalling a diversification in their portfolio of partnerships. A powerhouse in the sports world, The Madison Square Garden Company owns the NBA team New York Knicks and the NFL’s New York Rangers, and its signature venue – Madison Square Garden – was used for the NA LCS 2015 Summer Split final, with CLG themselves taking the top prize.

CLG is currently the oldest active League of Legends team (having been founded in 2010) and also runs squads in five other games.

David O’Connor, President and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company said:

“In 2015, Madison Square Garden hosted the sold-out North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Finals – a first for The World’s Most Famous Arena, and a sign that esports was ready to command sports’ biggest stage. Since then, as we have been actively exploring opportunities to enhance MSG’s portfolio of live experiences, we have been keenly interested in esports as a natural extension of our core business. The sport now stands on the verge of enormous change, which we believe has the potential to generate significant growth. ”

News of a potential investment in CLG was originally broken by ESPN, with sources stating that the deal was brokered by sports advisory company Catalyst Sports & Media.

Alongside endemic brands like Corsair and Intel, CLG gained its first non-endemic sponsor, 5-Hour Energy (an American “energy shot” brand), in May of this year. As part of the partnership, the CLG house was rebranded into the 5-Hour Energy house. Another recent change for the gaming organization occurred in November of last year, when CLG hired Matt “Trinitiii” Nausha, co-commissioner of the Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League, to serve as its new esports director.