NRG esports today announced the roster for its San Francisco Bay Area-based Overwatch League team. What we weren't expecting, however, was to see Jennifer Lopez and Shaquille O'Neal making the announcement.
As you can see in the above video, Shaq and J.Lo are joined by NFL running back Marshawn Lynch as well as media personality and former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan to announce the roster for San Francisco's Overwatch League team. But why are these celebrities getting involved in competitive Overwatch? They have a stake in the game.
O'Neal has been involved in the Overwatch scene for some time now, having invested in NRG esports (alongside MLB star Alex Rodriguez) back in March of last year. And today, NRG announced it is closing a $15 million series B funding round that included investments from Lopez, Lynch, and Strahan—hence their involvement in the NRG roster announcement.
And about that roster—NRG's San Francisco team is pretty stacked in terms of well-established professional Overwatch players. David "nomy" Ramirez and Matthew "super" DeLisi will tank for the team, Nikola "sleepy" Andrews and Daniel "dhaK" Paz will play support, while Dante "Danteh" Cruz, André "iddqd" Dahlström, Andrej "babybay" Francisty, and Jay "sinatraa" Won will handle DPS duties.
The Overwatch League preseason begins on December 6, while the main season of the league will begin on January 10 of 2018.
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As the former head of PC Gamer's hardware coverage, Bo was in charge of helping readers better understand and use PC hardware. He also headed up the buying guides, picking the best peripherals and components to spend your hard-earned money on. He can usually be found playing Overwatch, Apex Legends, or more likely, with his cats. He is now IGN's resident tech editor and PC hardware expert.
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