NRG officially announces CLG League of Legends acquisition
NRG has officially revealed its acquisition of CLG’s League of Legends division and will be a part of the League Championship Series (LCS).
NRG was reported to be the frontrunner to acquire CLG’s LCS slot, but it wasn’t certain if that deal would become official. While it was reported that CLG would do their mass layoffs starting Thursday, April 6, there wasn’t any certainty on when the announcement in regards to their LCS slot would happen.
A quick message from NRG CEO Andy Miller
— NRG Kia League (@NRGLeague) April 6, 2023
We have some exciting things planned, and will be answering more questions in the coming week. pic.twitter.com/oODiBSAetz
“We are super excited to announce the acquisition of Counter Logic Gaming to the NRG fam,” Miller enthusiastically stated.
He shared that many NRG fans had always asked when NRG would eventually make a return to the LCS following their LCS 2016 campaign. Now, that time has finally come for NRG to make an impactful return to North American League of Legends.
NRG CEO Andy Miller revealed that every part of CLG’s League of Legends division would remain intact in the official announcement, where he stated the following:
“We are acquiring CLG as of this announcement,” Miller said. “And we are keeping the League infrastructure intact. League, LCS team, academy team, all the coaches, all the analysts, and everybody down to Chef Phil, and we will be working out of the Culver City facility.”
There are definitely changes to the CLG org and we appreciate everyone who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this org to the point where they could become a part of NRG.” Miller stated.
Will NRG continue to use CLG's name?
In regards to Madison Square Garden’s role, Miller revealed that CLG’s former parent company would now become a “major shareholder” in NRG. Additionally, Miller revealed that NRG eventually plans to shift the name from CLG to NRG once “Riot allows”.
“We will be changing the brand from CLG to NRG when Riot allows,” Miller revealed towards the end of the official announcement video.
For now, NRG will continue to use the CLG name in League of Legends until that name switch becomes official. NRG’s existing partnership with GAM Esports as NRG Asia will continue to remain a looming question until more details are shared about that current partnership.
Until then, Miller revealed that the organization will do everything possible to win while also making the journey there enjoyable.
“We want to win, we hate losing. We are gonna have a good time doing it and I promise you won’t be seeing me in all the videos as the CEO and we are going to make sure everybody is along for the ride here.”
NRG will make their return to the LCS stage starting with the LCS 2023 Summer Split. For now, LCS fans will have their sights set on the LCS Finals Weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina from April 7-8. Cloud9, FlyQuest, and Golden Guardians will be looking to hoist the LCS championship title and be one of two representatives at MSI 2023.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.