Chicago-based esports and gaming technology company LeagueSpot announced Tuesday that it has acquired recreational youth and community esports league management company Mission Control for an undisclosed amount.
In its announcement LeagueSpot said it will use this acquisition to expand into the traditional youth sports market in the United States.
St. Louis, Missouri-based Mission Control launched in 2018 by Austin Smith and Byron Abrigg, with the mission of providing a community-focused esports platform–to-date it supports more than 300 organizations that added competitive gaming to their sports programs. Its partners included the parks and recreation departments of the City of Las Vegas, the University of Kentucky, nonprofits such as the Special Olympics of New York, and a number of brands and companies such as Cinemark, Comcast, GameStop, and Hollister, among others.
“Our business was dedicated to gathering and growing communities by utilizing recreational esports,” said Mission Control Co-Founder Austin Smith. “We are thrilled by Mission Control’s new home with LeagueSpot because it will allow us to continue to gather communities on the LeagueSpot platform, the most impressive platform available to the market, as well as start gathering communities utilizing traditional sports, taking us back to our roots.”
Serving more than 100,000 active users across more than 1,000 schools, colleges, and organizations, LeagueSpot has worked with stakeholders to provide white labeled esports platform and support services across the United States. It also works with stakeholders in esports to provide white label services and support to create both competitive circuits and one-off tournaments.
As part of this expansion, LeagueSpot (a PHNX Sports Partners portfolio company) has added Ventnor Ventures team members Taryn McCarty and Rob Johnson to its board of directors. McCarty has held key positions at Polygon Studios, Dow Jones, and Groupon; while Johnson has more than 20 years of experience in sports marketing and business development, and previously held executive roles at Playfly Sports and Comcast Spectacor. Mission Control co-founders Smith and Abrigg will also join the LeagueSpot team to help with sales and strategic development efforts.