Former NBA basketball player Marcin Gortat has invested in Polish Esports League, a three-year-old national competition.
Financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed at the time of writing.
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Polish Esports League has had six seasons and 10 offline events, with the likes of Team Kinguin, AGO, and Virtus.pro taking part. According to a release, discussions have been had since the start of 2020 among the company’s board regarding the future of the league.
In addition to Gortat’s investment, the company has undergone structural changes. It has launched a new joint-stock company named ‘Polska Liga Esportowa S.A.’ and made a series of personnel changes; including the appointment of Pawel Kowalczyk as CEO, Radek Wojcik as Head of Communication, Adam “destru” Gil as Head of Esports Operations, and Bartosz Borowski as Head of Sales.
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Gortat spoke on the decision to invest in a release: “I was not considered to be related with esport, but for a long time my thoughts circled around that subject. Year ago I had classes at NBA about esport, so I was familiar with that subject. Now is the moment that we won’t stop kids from playing, but what we can do is to educate them. We need to adapt.
“I have five sports schools in different cities, around 1300 students so including esport classes to them would be amazing. If Polish Esport League will help me to support the meritorical aspect of gaming, and will supply coaches, pro players it would be a great success. I’ll push a bit for the PLE team to focus on that aspect, and who knows, soon maybe there will be Marcin Gortat’s Counter-Strike GO school?”
Esports Insider says: Polish Esports League is obviously gearing up for a big change, attempting to thrust itself into further prominence. With the new appointments and involvement form Gortat, it’ll be interesting to see how the company tackles its ambition for growth in the next couple of years.