Changes Are Coming

Magic & The Broncos. Mo Money, Mo Problems for the Nets. New Look For Valorant.

Our thoughts are with the country and people of Ukraine, hoping a peaceful end is near

On Today’s Agenda:

• Magic Johnson Looks To Add To His Ownership Portfolio

• Mo Money, Mo Problems: Brooklyn Nets

• Riot Games Announces Valorant Changes To Emulate League Of Legends Competition

The Magic Touch

Magic Johnson Looks To Add To His Ownership Portfolio

By AJ Hewish

The Dodgers, the Sparks, and the Lakers all have 3 things in common… they’re all in LA, they’ve all won a championship in the past few years, and they are all partly owned by one of the best NBA players of all time: Magic Johnson.

The Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, the Lakers won the NBA Finals in 2020, and 4 years earlier, the LA Sparks won the WNBA, all of which fell under the ownership or at least partial ownership for Magic Johnson.

According to recent reports, Magic Johnson is co-bidding on the NFL team the Denver Broncos with Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris. Johnson is set to co-own part of the Broncos as of the upcoming 2022 NFL season, potentially even adding to the line of his prior successes in North American sport. 

WNBA, NBA, and MLB championships, and now Johnson can add his Magic touch to the Broncos and reignite their former Super Bowl success with the recent acquisition of Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson.

Looking to continue his legendary status in the world of sport, NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson can potentially reignite the style and success of the Broncos this upcoming season. Despite winning back to back super bowls in 1997 and 1998, and another victory in 2015, the past few years have been underwhelming in Colorado, most years not even coming close to playoffs.

You could say before Magic joined his multiple LA teams, they too were seriously underperforming, but that’s the Magic Johnson Touch. 3 championships with 3 teams, maybe this change of ownership will bring the Broncos back to their former glory, with a little help from some MAGIC.

Mo Money, Mo Problems: Brooklyn Nets

$100 Million Loss in the 2021-2022 Season

By Caleb Gilligan

To Brooklyn Nets fans, the season ended in an utterly disappointing fashion after the team was swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Nets, who had the best odds to win the NBA Finals before the season started, were dealt a poor hand with injuries, trades, and player eligibility issues. They only managed to earn a spot in the playoffs after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the play-in round. With superstars such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons, fans were quick to predict a potential upset in the Celtics-Nets series as the skill and talent are some of the best in the league for the Nets. Unfortunately, the season ended in a bitter fashion with a 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Celtics.

However, fans were not the only ones who felt they had been robbed. An article by the New York Post earlier this week stated that the Brooklyn Nets had lost between $50 and $100 million during the 2021-22 season, the worst in the NBA.

Nets owner Joe Tsai, who purchased the team in 2018 for a reported $3.3 billion, is a Taiwanese businessman who is most known for being a co-founder and vice-chairman of Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant. Tsai is also Alibaba’s second-largest shareholder. With Alibaba’s stock price dropping over 56% in the past year, Tsai’s net worth dropped from $11.6 billion in 2021 to $8.4 billion in 2022. Although over $8 billion is still more than enough to run an NBA franchise, Tsai might want to be a little more conservative in their payroll department.

This past season, the Nets had the second-highest payroll in the NBA and paid the second-most luxury taxes in NBA history. After signing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden to the league maximum contracts, the superstars have not had the impact that was expected. Durant didn’t play at all in the 2019-20 season after dealing with an Achilles injury and only played a combined 90 games in the previous two seasons. Likewise, Irving has only played 103 games for the Nets since arriving in 2019, mostly because he was not eligible to play in Brooklyn due to his choice not to be vaccinated. Furthermore, the Nets also traded James Harden to the 76ers after reports of him being unhappy in Brooklyn. The key player they received for Harden was Ben Simmons, who did not appear at all in the 2021-22 season due to back injuries. It’s clear to say that the Nets superstars have not helped their financial situation.

Although the Nets are located in one of the largest markets in the NBA, their superstars were not enough to make them the most-watched team in their city. The New York Knicks, with a payroll of $174 million compared to the Nets’ $267 million, averaged a gate receipt of $3 million per game whereas the Nets only had $2.1 million per game.

With the players they have, it’s definitely disappointing that the Brooklyn Nets haven’t had more success for the money that had been put into the team. However, if one thing is certain in professional sports, money can’t buy championships. You need a combination of teamwork, leadership, culture, and then money.

Valorant’s New Competitive Look in 2023

Riot Games Announces Valorant Changes To Emulate League Of Legends Competition

By Hiral Patel

Last week, Riot Games announced how they will be changing the ESports scene for Valorant. The video game developer behind League of Legends wants to replicate the same success for Valorant, with the introduction of leagues across international markets. In 2023, Valorant will launch 3 leagues - North America, Europe, and Asia. Throughout the season, teams will compete weekly in attempts to qualify for the pinnacle Champions event.

Valorant is a first-person shooter that was released in June 2020, and has taken the gaming world by storm. They have established a consistent monthly player count of 15 million, never dipping below 12 million since late 2020 - and hosting 1.5 million active players per day. For comparison, their 16 million active player count in March 2022 is more than double the Overwatch player base of 7 million (on an unrelated note, the Overwatch League began their season this week as well).

The 2021 Valorant Champions tour was not based on teams competing in leagues, but rather hosted a slate of tournaments where teams would qualify for higher stages in order to advance to Champions. Riot Games president of ESports John Needham mentioned that the company will be taking all their learnings from the League of Legends competitive scene to hopefully propel Valorant to similar heights.

No teams have been announced, nor is there a confirmed plan of which teams will participate in the league. The developer’s goal is to establish partnerships with no entry fees, and provide financial support (i.e. stipends) to eligible teams. Riot Games also plans to add a new game mode to help scout and recognize talent for their competitions. 

The initial response from Valorant gamers and fans has been fairly positive. Most fans are in for a franchise based league that does not come with expensive buy-in fees, which is how the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues were formed. However, some in the Valorant community do raise concern about the franchises gatekeeping teams from competing, preventing a true best-on-best championship tournament at season’s end. 

As Valorant continues to gain popularity in the ESports space, these changes appear to follow a proven model that has worked year after year for League of Legends. Content creators and professional gamers on Valorant should hopefully see new opportunities with these changes as the 2023 version of competitive Valorant looks to further commercialize.