Shortly after Splyce dropped four of their former players and signed ex-Kungarna , the organisation announced their partnership with NHL team Boston Bruins’ parent company, Delaware North.
Delaware North is the company that owns six-time Stanley Cup champion team Boston Bruins, and their partnership with Splyce marks a major strategic investment for the esports organisation. Delaware North also owns and runs TD Garden, the arena that the Bruins competes in.
The company also runs Delaware North Sportservice, which provides services in catering and retail to over 50 professional sports venues across the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB.
Marty Strenczewilk, CEO and president of Splyce said in the announcement:
A major focus at Splyce is the application of traditional sports knowledge into our growing esports industry. This partnership with Delaware North allows us unfettered access to championship-caliber training staff, expert guidance on key areas of monetization and rock-solid infrastructure that can allow us to skyrocket our growth and maturation as a global sports franchise. We are equally excited about the opportunity to rally one of the most passionate and loyal local fan-bases in professional sports into a legion of Splyce fans. With these powerful resources behind us, Splyce is equipped to become the premier esports team in the world.
Splyce as an organisation was founded in 2015 in New York, then known as Follow Esports. It branded itself as the “TV guide of esports” and worked as a directory of streamed esports events before picking up professional teams in CS:GO, Smash, Overwatch, and more.
Marty Strenczewilk from Splyce and Todd Merry, CMO of Delaware North, also recently conducted an AmA on reddit. Some of their interesting answers are included below:
Marty Strenczewilk, Splyce CEO and president:
...As companies we are from the same area (Western NY). Delaware North happens to have a CMO (Todd Merry) who is an esports fan and that helped spark the conversation because he already loved watching esports and has attended events live for his own entertainment.
...The biggest immediate effect is access to resources. We're already setting up a bootcamp for one of our teams utilizing Delaware North resources. We've leveraged their nutritionist to work with our LCS cook in planning meals. We have some really cool interactions we're looking at with having players at the arena - an opportunity they may have never had before. It's still a very new partnership so the list will grow, but already we're working to take advantage of as many of the potential areas of synergy as we can.
...We wanted to stay in the Northeast and be in a major city. Boston has such an incredible fanbase that we knew it was a great choice to engage. - DN is a local Western NY company and we could see right away that we had a lot of management synergy in our early conversations. Anyone we partner with my first thought is 'do I want to work with these people for the next 50 years' - and the answer was an easy yes here - Todd was a big factor. Knowing that on the exec level they have someone who loves esports like we do was a huge plus. He has been a super strong advocate for us and gives us faith that Delaware North will continue to put great resources into our success
...As a long time sports fan, I've always loved going to the arena to see a season game for 20 bucks in the nosebleed section screaming at the court. That same experience is one that I and other esports fans want to have. We don't always want to spend a couple thousand bucks for airfare, hotels, etc to see a championship (tho sometimes those are fun too). We'll still see great events by MLG, ESL, and the like, but I think home matches will become a thing for sure
...We want to grow to become the premier esports organization, and especially the New England area organization that has fans who are with us for generations. What comes with that is hopefully long term financial growth and stability. My players often hear me say this to them: I look forward to the day when I can pay you millions of dollars a year bc that means I'm probably making a few bucks, too. This move with Delaware North helps send us in the right direction to properly monetize esports and be able to see more compensation head to our players (and staff) pockets
Todd Merry, CMO of Delaware North:
...esports is the future, plain and simple. This isn't a fad or something that might wane over time. And we won't be calling it "esports" for long, it will simply be "sports" for the next generation. So, of course, we were interested as every company should be. As to what we can bring to Splyce, an already pretty great organization - we can help with sponsorships and selling. We have relationships with big brands and can help make those introductions. We have resources in marketing and digital/social as a $3billion organization that can only help Splyce. And of course the TD Garden in Boston is a great venue and one we hope we see Splyce playing at in the near future.
...We want Splyce to become a top 5 esports organization in the world. When you see what Marty has achieved in the last 20 months or so you realize there is no limit to what he can achieve with some support and backing from Delaware North.
...Splyce is a great team. When you see what they have accomplished in their short time together it's very impressive. Also, when you buy a team like this you are really buying their people and we have a lot of faith and confidence in Marty and his knowledge and experience.