*By Zane Bhansali*
For NFL player Ahman Green, 2003 was a year for the record books: He set the Green Bay Packers franchise record for rushing yards and touchdowns, and became the first and only player in NFL history to record at least 1,850 rushing yards, average 5.0 yards per carry, score 20 touchdowns, and catch 50 passes in a single season.
But he doesn't take all the credit for his success.
"It was a team effort," he says. "I'm a team player. From my offensive linemen to the full backs to the tight ends to the wide receivers blocking down the field, that's why that happened," he told Cheddar Sports.
Now, Green is taking his affinity for teamwork off the field and entering the esports game with his purchase of the Halo Pro Battle League team Wisconsin Fury.
"That type of teamwork is what I want to bring to the esports world," he said.
And that type of idea and that type of teamwork is what I want to bring to the esports world."
"It's been something bouncing around my brain for a couple of years," he says.
Green's love affair with gaming goes all the way back to his childhood.
He's been involved on an industry level for the better part of two decades ー since he served as the motion capture model for running backs and wide receivers in Madden 2K, and currently coaches high school "Overwatch" teams in his old home base of Green Bay. But it's Halo that's captured his heart since 2007, during an unfortunate stint on the injured reserved list.
"Halo 3 was my indoctrination into it," he says. "I was on IR unfortunately that year... and so on IR means basically you get a paycheck and that's all you do. So I was playing Halo 3, falling asleep with the controller in my hand, nodding off, nights like that." he said.
Since then, Green's passion for Halo has been unquenchable. His Twitter is littered with clips from tournaments and other events, including last weekend's DreamHack Atlanta. Becoming the owner of a team seemed to be the logical next step.
"I feel great about it," Green says of owning the team. "It's a product that's growing in the community that's going to be big for 2019 and 2020."
League of Legends World Championship, the Overwatch World Cup, and Serral's incredible victory at Blizzcon. Featuring
Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood, Aziz "Hax$" Al-Yami, and Kelsey Moser.
Amazon is reportedly looking to expand its foothold in live programming, with an eye on the 22 regional sports networks that Disney must spin off as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. For Amazon, it would be the extension of a grand strategy that has been both simple and consistent: drive more Prime subscriptions.
PlayVS, a start-up created to build an infrastructure for high school esports, has announced a new Series B funding round of $30.5 million, led by Elysian Park Ventures, a firm that operates on behalf of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The new funding will also bring in new investments from Adidas, Samsung NEXT, and Plexo Capital, and angel investors include Sean “Diddy” Combs.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 19, 2018.
Mike Sepso is a gilded name in esports. His latest win? The senior VP of Activision Blizzard was recently appointed a strategic partner of Overwatch team league New York Excelsior. And he also happens to be the leader of Major League Gaming, which he founded with partner Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002. But before he assumed his throne, Sepso conceived MLG during a single lazy summer when he and his partner were basking in the glory of their previous company, Gotham Broadband.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 16, 2018.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Super Bowl Champion Darrell Revis is now the face of online bookmaker PointsBet's digital sportsbook, launching later this month. Revis and PointsBet CEO Johnny Aitken told Cheddar how they're trying to educate consumers about legal sports betting.
The Golden State Warriors' star-studded lineup and three championship rings over the last four seasons have been a major revenue driver for the team's business, but the next phase of growth will rely on local real estate, said the team's chief financial officer Jennifer Cabalquinto.
The subject of gambling and esports has become a point of serious tension for gamers. For companies like Unikrn, which built its platform on the practice of esports betting, battling that stigma is a central, implicit part of the operation. According to CEO and co-founder Rahul Sood, the company is determined to make betting on esports a “safe, legal, and relegated” space.
