It’s been a busy few weeks for OverActive Media Group. After investing $1.5M into esports organization Splyce in June, the companies unveiled the new Toronto Defiant Overwatch League franchise in late October. Today, following yesterday’s announcement of Splyce’s franchise spot in the rebranded League of Legends European Championship (LEC), OverActive Media increased its stake in esports by agreeing to fully acquire the organization.

President and CEO Chris Overholt amassed considerable experience in the world of traditional sports, with a 20-year career that includes stops with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, NHL’s Florida Panthers and NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, and NBA’s Toronto Raptors, and most recently the Canadian Olympic Committee. As Overholt told The Esports Observer last month, he was ready to make the leap into esports. “It really didn’t seem like it was something I could pass on,” he said. “I do believe that the future has arrived.”

Now he’s overseeing both the Defiant and Splyce as OverActive Media seeks to thrive in two high-profile franchised leagues, along with several other games that Splyce competes in. Ahead of the acquisition announcement, The Esports Observer spoke with Overholt about leading an esports organization, where Splyce sits in the current hierarchy of esports teams, and how OverActive Media can help elevate its status.

Credit: Riot Games

Making the Move

Asked why OverActive Media decided to go all-in on Splyce after its initial investment, Overholt said that he was already committed to the idea—it was just a matter of time and opportunity.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Long before we acquired Splyce, we were all-in. It was just a matter of defining the best opportunities to scale our business.”[/perfectpullquote]

“Long before we acquired Splyce, we were all-in. It was just a matter of defining the best opportunities to scale our business,” he said. “As we spent more time with Marty [Strenczewilk, Splyce CEO and co-founder] and his team and as we looked at their business and the potential of the Splyce brand globally, we just didn’t feel like we could deny ourselves that opportunity.”

“Concurrent with that, we had been working with Splyce on the potential of acquiring a League of Legends franchise, but when all of that came together at the very same time, it seemed like a no-brainer,” he continued. “We have been quite deliberate and intentional from the beginning. We said from the beginning that we’re going to build a professional esports organization that will have a global reach, and will look and feel like Madison Square Garden or Maple Leaf Sports up here, and that’s what we’re doing. It seemed like the logical next step.”

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Increased scale will be the biggest change coming to Splyce. Co-founders Strenczewilk and creative director Vincent Garguilo will remain with the team, along with about 40 operations, marketing, and content staff members. Instead of shaking things up operationally, Overholt sees the opportunity to take Splyce international and build upon an already-steady foundation. Establishing Toronto as the home base for its Overwatch team gives OverActive Media a clear North American focus, but the company sees potential to expand well beyond that—especially with a franchised European League of Legends team onboard.

“The acquisition will scale Splyce in ways that we couldn’t scale globally,” he said. “With the Splyce brand and the various teams they have playing around the world, we think we’ve got a global brand there. We’ve got players inside those teams that speak to a global audience, and all of that opens up conversations with global brands. We’ll have the opportunity, of course, to deliver our marketing partnerships to the conversation around Overwatch—and I think in a lot of ways, that will be the tip of the spear. The moment they want to pivot and start to think about Europe, we’ll be able to have global conversations there.”

Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Evaluating the Brand

There have been a couple of key brand refreshes recently, the most significant being an overhaul of Dignitas just six months after bringing on a new CEO. However, Overholt said that while his team will do its diligence to identical potential areas of improvement, rebranding or even refreshing the Splyce brand isn’t a key consideration right now.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s an urgent priority,” he said. “I think Marty and his team have worked very hard to establish the reputation the way they have. At some level, I think that Splyce is an underserved brand, and I think the expertise we bring from OverActive Media will allow us to change that conversation and build it out on a global scale.”

Asked about the team’s current status in the esports industry, Overholt said his company’s research led it to believe that Splyce was a top 20 or top 25 organization. Elevating its place in the esports world will come gradually and via added investment, but he believes that the addition of the LEC franchise slot alongside the Overwatch League already puts Splyce “into the very upper echelon of the esports space.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “Over time, you’ll start to see consolidation of interest and a consolidation of opportunity around the leaders in the industry…” [/perfectpullquote]

Just three other organizations—Cloud9 , OpTic Gaming , and Misfits —simultaneously own both Overwatch League and League of Legends franchise slots at present. While the esports industry as a whole is growing at a rapid place, Overholt said that investors and brands will begin to focus more on a smaller, elite group of organizations. That’s a key reason why securing both franchise spots was so important to Splyce and OverActive Media.

“Over time, you’ll start to see consolidation of interest and a consolidation of opportunity around the leaders in the industry,” he said. “Investors, and frankly sponsors and ad dollars, they want to be with the leaders. I think our place in the Overwatch League partnered with Activision Blizzard , and our place in the League of Legends franchise partnered with Riot Games , and our ability to scale the Splyce brand on a global basis—that changes the conversation for OverActive Media.”

OverActive’s Next Steps

In the short term, we will see a couple of things from OverActive Media. First off, the company is engaged in discussions around establishing a home base in Toronto for the Defiant. Overwatch League teams will start hosting home games in 2020, and the team hopes to build its own facility and begin establishing a local presence.

Additionally, Overholt sees an opportunity for Splyce to amplify its consumer product business and position itself as a lifestyle and apparel brand. OverActive plans to announce a new hire in that space soon, and is also discussing investment possibilities. “We’re engaged with some investors that I think will give us a position and an opportunity to think about lifestyle brand and building out something,” he said, pointing to examples like the Toronto Raptors’ “We the North” campaign and that team’s association with rapper Drake.

Splyce’s SMITE team after winning the 2018 World Championship (Credit: OverActive Media)

Beyond its franchise slots, Splyce also holds the current world championships in Halo and Smite and competes in Call of Duty , StarCraft II , and Paladins , plus its Rocket League team was just promoted into the Rocket League Championship Series for next season. As for any further expansion into games, Overholt said that franchises are its top priority for now.

“We have a strategy here, and it’s about owning franchises that play in leagues that have business models that make sense to us,” he said, stressing that having a league partner is key. “We’ll be on the lookout for other opportunities just like this, and just like Madison Square Garden—they own the Liberty, the Rangers, and Knicks—we’re going to want to own franchises within OverActive Media that we think can give us that powerful conversation globally.”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We don’t want to be wholly opportunistic from a commercial sense…”[/perfectpullquote]

Outside of league franchises, Splyce will still consider other opportunities and use a mix of criteria to make those decisions, including the game’s popularity and what fans are looking for.

“We don’t want to be wholly opportunistic from a commercial sense,” said Overholt. “We’ve got to make sure that we honor the fan base and how they think about the work that we do in the industry, and also help build the industry. In some cases, we might be involved with games either because the fans are indicating that they have the potential to be popular, or because frankly, they’re legendary franchises—like StarCraft.”

Overholt is still relatively new to the world of esports, but he believes that his ample experience with traditional sports organizations has primed him to help guide OverActive Media’s growth and evolution in the years to come.