Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke spends £15m to buy spot in video game Overwatch League for LA team

Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has bought a spot in the Blizzard Overwatch League.
Along with his son Josh Kroenke, Stan, who also has investments in the LA Rams, the Denver Nuggets and three sports sides in Colorado, has taken up the slot for Los Angeles, which is understood to have cost around $20million (£15.3m).
Game developers Blizzard expressed their delight after the investment by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke has invested around £15million in Overwatch

They said in a statement: 'Known as international leaders in the sports industry, Stan and Josh Kroenke own professional teams, stadiums, and media holdings around the world. 
'We're very happy to be able to rely on their deep expertise in sports as work on the Overwatch League continues at full speed.'
And Kroenke Jnr added: 'We're going to build a great team for Los Angeles that inspires fans near and far.'
Kroenke joins Robert Kraft, the owner of NFL team the New England Patriots, in investing in the still nascent league. 
The Arsenal chief has been hit by controversy recently after launching a hunting channel in the UK which featured 'blood sports'.
It is not Thursday's only investment into the Overwatch League. Cloud9 have bought the London slot for the league, becoming the first team to represent Europe
The two new teams join already established ones in Boston, another from Los Angeles, Miami-Orlando, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai and New York.
Teams are currently on the search for players and can snap them up until the window closes at the end of October.
Overwatch is a team-based online first-person shooter game developed by Blizzard. A player selects a 'hero' with a unique style of play and then work with team-mates to secure and defend points on a map or escort a payload.
Players in the Overwatch League are guaranteed a minimum $50,000 (£38,400) annual salary. 

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