As I have talked about before, sports have always been a big part of my life. I played basketball, soccer and field hockey growing up, and I still find time for a Masters swimming program at my local public swim club.

A few years ago, I began following the esports movement. I must say, it has been fascinating to watch, both as a sport and as a business. Since 2014, global esports revenue has more than doubled to over $800 million, and the audience has grown from 200 million global viewers to 400 million. What is even more impressive is the fact that nearly 80% of the audience is under 35 and that 1.6% of the audience not only consumes content but creates it as well, nearly 2x the norm for digital content. Twitch alone is larger than 75%+ of individual TV networks and will soon deliver more monthly minutes watched than many TV network groups. All at significantly higher engagement rates than traditional forms of content.

And, we are just at the beginning of esports. What is needed to continue the industry’s incredible growth is for teams, platforms and other parts of the ecosystem to evolve and match the gaming community’s enthusiasm and passion with disciplined professional operation. It’s driven by the need to build long-term sustainable businesses on top of new consumer behaviors and technologies. It’s a story I’ve seen and been a part of before!

Today, I am investing in, and taking a seat on the board of Immortals, a leading global esports franchise backed by AEG, Lionsgate, the Milken Family and Steve Kaplan among others. The team is focused on building a sustainable and diversified esports business that goes beyond team operations and has ambitions to become the first billion dollar global esports business. I am excited to be joining their founder, Noah Whinston, and the rest of their management team in those efforts and look forward to celebrating our successes.