E-sports is big money, there can be no denying that at this point. So its no surprise that just like other pro sports team, League teams can be bought and sold. What is a surprise is one that is in the LCS (basically the major leagues of LoL) for sale at the time of the world championship. The team in question is Impulse, whom are already qualified for the 2016 LCS, meaning the sale comes with their spot as well as players, and other assets.
Team Impulse COO Alex Gu said in an interview with GameSpot that thoughts of a sale first came up in September, but the decision wasn’t made until last week. Impuse did not have a good season this year in the LCS with plagued with player difficulties they failed to qualify for the World Championships finishing fourth at the LCS Summer Playoffs and falling to Cloud9 in theRegional Qualifier. Though no asking price was cited, the teams sale must be concluded quickly so they can be prepared for the 2016 season.
“We want to shift the ownership from the team to a local investor ideally,” a Team Impulse rep said in an email sent to Kotaku confirming the sale. “We are currently performing due diligence and having some conversations. We hope to announce a successful strategic transaction soon.”
Hopefully this does not become a trend, as personally I have no desire to see League teams changing hands over one bad season.