If you needed any more convincing that esports are huge and here to stay, Robert Kraft now owns an Overwatch team.
Kraft is Chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, which most notably owns the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution, and the venue they play in, the Gillette Stadium.
His latest acquisition is the Boston Uprising, one of the 12 teams to be participating in the upcoming Overwatch League.
Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots with his new Overwatch team Boston Uprising
The Boston Uprising are one of the 12 teams who will be in the upcoming Overwatch League
Robert Kraft visited the team and introduced himself to its players recently, and Uprising released a video of the event.
When Kraft first bought the New England Patriots, the team had zero Super Bowl wins to their name.
Now they have five.
The Boston Uprising will be hoping to emulate that success when the Overwatch League finally gets underway in January.
For the first season of the OWL, teams will play all their matches at the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. This is where Kraft met the team the other day.
‘Wow, this is really something,’ said Kraft as he entered. The Blizzard Arena is a brand new venue, specifically designed to host Blizzard esports tournaments.
However, the plan for subsequent seasons of the League will have teams playing home games at their own venues.
It’s unlikely Boston Uprising will be hosting teams at the 67,000 seat Gillette Stadium just yet, but who knows what the future holds?
Kraft was then introduced to the Uprising players by Chris ‘Huk’ Loranger, former StarCraft II professional, who is now President of Gaming at Boston Uprising.
‘I wanted to welcome you all to our family, and let’s go kick some butt,’ Kraft said to the players.
The Overwatch League begins on January 10, 2018, but the Boston Uprising will be in action during the preseason exhibition games starting on December 6.