At one point it seemed as if German football club FC Bayern Munich was poised to enter the esports industry, but a new report suggests those plans have been scrapped.
According to German tabloid Bild.de, FC Bayern Munich’s president Ulrich “Uli” Hoeness has decided against the advanced plans to enter multiple esports titles.
At one point, the football club wanted to invest as much as €5,000,000 (£4,397,899) into entering games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, and Fortnite. Nonetheless, Hoeness has vetoed these plans since he sees no correlation between esports and his team.
Said talks around this entrance into esports have been present for two years, at least, when Bundesliga sides VfL Wolsburg and FC Schalke 04 made their mark in the industry. Despite these now-scrapped plans, Bayern’s basketball counterpart had fielded an NBA 2K roster under the guise of Bayern Ballers.
This news has not been confirmed as of yet, it has merely been reported so it should be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s worth noting that it costs a lot more than the proposed investment to enter League of Legends alone should FC Bayern Munich have wanted to acquire a spot in the upcoming franchised-take on the EU LCS.
Esports Insider says: We can’t help but think this is a huge missed opportunity and a misstep from the German side should this report turn out to be truthful. With teams such as FC Barcelona recently entering the scene, and existing clubs still operating in multiple titles, it’d be a shame to see a club that’s the size of FC Bayern Munich deciding against entering esports.