Essendon has sold their esports licence, with fixed-wirless internet provider Pentanet purchasing the rights to the Bombers Oceanic Pro League licence.
The Bombers released a statement on their website on Monday, outlining the reasons as to why they sold.
The full statement can be seen below.
Essendon has today entered into a sales agreement with high-speed NBN and fixed-wireless internet providerย Pentanet, which has acquired the rights to the Bombersโ esportsย licence.
Pentanet.GG, the new esports arm of Pentanet,ย will take ownership of theย licenceย in the Oceanic Pro League, effective immediately.
The club has made the decision to divest its commitment to esports and reprioritise to focus on alternate key strategic objectives that continue to be in line with the clubโs 2021 vision.
After two years involved in esports, the transfer and sale of the Bombersโ OPL licence to Pentanet has importantly enabled the club to recognise an increase in the enterprise value of the asset.
Essendonย chief executive officer Xavier Campbell said esportsย remained a significant growth area in global and local, sports and entertainment, butย the decision to exit was made to focus on other initiatives the club felt were more compelling in the short to medium term.
โAcquiring an esports team has allowed the club to invest in an emerging category from a non-traditional market with growth potential,โ Campbell said.
โWe have been successful in diversifying revenue with a number of non-endemic brand partnerships and have engaged and reached a younger audience through a new innovation opportunity.
โWe are proud to have achieved domestic success in the Oceanic Pro League earlier this year and provided our esports team with the best and most professional training facilities in the country.
โWe thank all members of the Bombersโ esports team for their commitment in recent years and wish them well for their future endeavors, and thank the partners of the team for their support over the journey.
โAs a club we will continue to challenge the status quo and evaluate emerging trends and innovations that we believe can deliver potential growth in non-traditional areas with the underlying objective to best support our core business โ football.โ
Pentanet.GG has been created with a focus on building a professionally regulated esports industry that connects Asia with Australia, backed by the power of the Perth ISP delivering superfast internet speeds with gamers and esports fans front of mind.
