Esports Report

Plugged In: More legal troubles with esports

Plugged In: More legal troubles with esports
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

One of the first news stories of the day is the announcement of the first female African American CEO in esports as Peak6 Investments bought the independent team Evil Geniuses. Evil Geniuses has a long tradition in the esports community and also it's history is one that is shared by many esports teams in this growing arena with several ownership changes over the years. It was initially sold to Twitch as part of its gaming group but that dissolved and eventually EG wound up on its own but all the while maintained a strong footing in the gaming world especially in the league of legends style DOTA2. Peak6 is an investment firm that specializes in tech but has also crossed into traditional sports numerous times and reality is for them this is simply the next realm of investing. Peak6 has named Nicole Jameson as the CEO and tasked her with growing the brand and also with handling the day to day operations of the esports organization.

The lawsuit filed by TFue against Faze sports just got even uglier. In the lawsuit which basically boils down to unfair contracts, TFue alleges he signed initially with the team when he was under 13 years of age which is the minimum for all of these agencies and groups that gaming goes through. You can't be an affiliate Twitch streamer, you can't be a youtuber, you can't be in the fortnite events if you aren't at least 13. Well Faze disputed those claims obviously, except now it's come out that an active player on the Faze roster is only 12 years old themselves and have been with the team for over a year, making them at best 11 when they signed with the team and the family was encouraged by Faze to lie about the kid's age to be able to compete in the events. He's already won over $5k in Fortnite events that he shouldn't have even be eligible to enter, what's the penalty for knowingly playing ineligible players? In college sports it's at the least vacating wins and potentially the death penalty for a program, so what's esports options?

The idea of recruiting children and having them lie to boost their eligibility isn't a good sign for an organization being a trustworthy and fair bunch. Overall this is the kind of thing that esports overall need to avoid, it's a bad look and suddenly the focus becomes on exploited children and not on the competition of the leagues. Overwatch League requires you to be at least 18 to compete and that's a reasonable standard, but having such a low age as the barrier for entry isn't a great look overall, it's reminiscent of women's gymnastics and how often nations accuse other nations of using girls that are too young to compete and it gets messy very quickly.

Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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Stefon Diggs will miss the remainder of the season. Composite Getty Image.

Houston Texans fans have been waiting to hear the latest on the status of wide receiver Stefon Diggs after he left Sunday's game with a knee injury.

We received a disappointing update from Adam Schefter on Tuesday.

Diggs will miss the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL. Fortunately for the Texans, the trade deadline is still a few days away.

If Houston would like to add some depth to the position, Giants WR Darius Slayton would make a lot of sense. He's played well this year (29 rec, 420 yards), and is a free agent after the 2024 season.

So he shouldn't cost too much draft capital if the Texans decide to make a deal.

Panthers receiver Diontae Johnson would have been the obvious choice, but he was just traded to the Ravens.

Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers could be another option. But he's still under contract for the 2025 season, so his price tag may scare off the Texans.

Jets receiver Mike Williams could be under consideration. His role has taken a backseat with the addition of Davante Adams. He has two seasons with over 1,000 yards in his career. He'll be a free agent after the season.

On the low end, Patriots WR KJ Osborn could be another possibility. Osborn is on a one-year deal and only has 7 catches for 57 yards this year.

Osborn recorded over 540 receiving yards in three straight seasons for the Vikings before signing with the Patriots after the 2023 season.

If the Texans decide to hold tight, Nico Collins is expected to return next week for their matchup with the Lions.


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