Echo Fox
 | |
| Divisions | Apex Legends Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Dragon Ball FighterZ Fortnite Battle Royale Injustice 2 Madden NFL 19 Mortal Kombat 11 Super Smash Bros. Street Fighter V |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 18, 2015 |
| Folded | November 2019 |
| Owner | Khalid Jones (co-owner) |
| President | Jared Jeffries |
| General manager | Justin Lee |
Echo Fox was an American esports organization. It was founded on December 18, 2015 by retired basketball player Rick Fox, who created Echo Fox after he purchased the NA LCS spot of Gravity Gaming.[1] The organization had expanded into various games with teams competing in titles such as Apex Legends, Call of Duty, CS:GO, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Fortnite, Injustice 2, Madden NFL 19, Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros., and Street Fighter V. Echo Fox had several fighting game players with championship titles that were a well-known team in the professional scene.
Controversies
On December 18, 2015 Rick Fox and his business partners, Amit Razaida and Khalid Jones, entered the professional esports scene with their acquisition of the NA LCS spot of Gravity Gaming, creating a new team named Echo Fox.[1] According to Razaida, he and Jones "both offered up $1 million each to get the new team off the ground" while Fox "never put in any of his own money into Echo Fox." Fox and Raizada subsequently had a falling out, in which Raizada claims Fox attempted to extort him of $5 million.[2]
In April 2019, Fox threatened to leave the esports team after accusing Razaida, of making racist comments against him and Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall, as well as threatening Fox's family.[3][4] In response, Riot Games, which operates the LCS, launched an investigation. It ordered Echo Fox to remove Razaida, or it would have to sell its spot in the LCS within 60 days, saying "hate speech, threats, and bigotry have no place in the LCS." With Echo Fox unable to remove Razaida, Riot Games came up with an agreement to end Echo Fox's participation in the LCS. Kroenke Sports and Entertainment agreed to a deal for the LCS slot soon after for $30.25 million however, the deal fell through due to legal issues with their partner, Sentinels.[5] After the deadline given to Echo Fox to sell their slot ended, Riot Games later announced its plans to sell off the newly vacated LCS franchise spot to a new team, with most of the proceeds going to Echo Fox.[6]
Riot games selected Evil Geniuses as the organization that would acquire Echo Fox's League Championship Series slot.[7]
In September 2019, A lawsuit ousting general partner Rick Fox was sent to Fox by several of his business partners stating Fox had repeatedly worked against the best interests of the company. The letter sent had several signatures including: Vision Esports head Stratton Sclavos, investor Daniel Deshe, Raizada Group manager Ravi Srivastava and Khalid Jones, who was Fox's partner in the general partnership.[8] Fox filed a lawsuit against his business partners, Amit Raizada and Stratton Sclavos alleging the two partners committed fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract against him.[9]
In November 2019, with numerous rumors spreading about Echo Fox splitting apart over the lawsuits, an Echo Fox investor officially confirmed the organization was disbanded.[10][11]
League of Legends
On January 23, 2016, due to some concerns over player work-eligibility, Echo Fox was unable to submit a roster and was required to forfeit their match against NRG Esports.[12] Echo Fox finished last in the 2016 Summer NA LCS, forcing a relegation match. They defeated NRG Esports 3-0 in relegations and qualified for the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split.
In 2018, the North American League of Legends Championship Series moved to a franchised league and Echo Fox invested in a spot as a permanent partner. Echo Fox later received an equity investment from the New York Yankees and a new roster, which finished 2nd in the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split with 12 wins and 7 losses after losing a tiebreaker to 100 Thieves.[13]
On August 16, 2019, the rosters of both Echo Fox and Echo Fox Academy were released, and the organization departed the professional League of Legends scene.[14]
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
While no official reason has been given for Echo Fox allowing its players to leave, some[who?] have suggested it is due to poor performances at both ELEAGUE Season 2 and IBUYPOWER Masters 2016.[15] At ELEAGUE, Echo Fox lost versus Virtus.pro (where they won only a single round on Nuke),[16][better source needed] and versus G2 Esports (where Echo Fox lost 16–3 and 16–2 on Nuke and Dust 2 respectively).[17][better source needed] At iBUYPOWER Masters 2016 Echo Fox finished a disappointing 5th–6th place.[18][better source needed]
Fighting games
Echo Fox entered the fighting game community on April 29, 2016 by signing Street Fighter V player Julio Fuentes.[19] A month later, they would sign Super Smash Bros. pro Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman.[20]
In 2017, Echo Fox would make one of the biggest signings in esports history by signing seven FGC players all at once, three of which were previously being from Evil Geniuses. In addition to this Echo Fox signed former EG manager Antonio "CoolGrayAJ" Javier as the team's new manager.[21] The signing of said superteam was met with mixed reception from the fighting game community. Evil Geniuses player Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley vowed for the team to fall especially his former teammate, Justin Wong. Team Liquid's NuckleDu acknowledged the signing and feels anticipation as to what the new team can do, complementing each player as a Top 10 player in each of their main games.[22] Echo Fox would continue growing their team with the signing of Korean and French Tekken pros Saint, JDCR and VorttexX-Shadow; this would bring their roster up to thirteen players.[23]
Roster
| ID | Name | Game(s) | Join date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mew2King | Jason Zimmerman | Super Smash Bros. 64 Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Brawl Project M Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
May 17, 2016[20] |
| MKLeo | Leonardo Lopez Perez | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
January 4, 2017[21] |
| SonicFox | Dominique McLean | Injustice 2 Skullgirls: 2nd Encore Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Dragon Ball FighterZ Mortal Kombat 11 Soulcalibur VI |
January 4, 2017[21] |
| dekillsage | Jon Coello | Skullgirls: 2nd Encore Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Dragon Ball FighterZ |
April 18, 2018[24] |
Call of Duty
On May 13, 2016 Echo Fox added a Call of Duty team with a roster of Jeremy "Neslo" Olsen, Jordan "Proof" Cannon, Jonathan "SinfuL" Baez, and Josh "Cyborg" Kimpson.[25] In November, all players except Neslo were dropped and replaced by Anthony "Methodz" Zinni, Teegan "TcM" McCarthy, and Tanner "Mosh" Clark.[26]
References
- ^ a b Soshnick, Scott (December 18, 2015). "Former NBA Player Rick Fox Buys eSports Team Gravity". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
- ^ "Exclusive: Raizada comes forward to dispute allegations by Fox". upcomer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Rick Fox set to leave Echo Fox amid racist abuse from organization shareholder [UPDATED]". Dexerto.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ Lee, Julia (April 25, 2019). "Rick Fox reportedly quitting his esports company, alleging racist abuse". Polygon. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Kroenke Sports & Entertainment deal to acquire Echo Fox falls through". ESPN.com. August 10, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ Goslin, Austen (August 14, 2019). "Riot Games steps in to find buyer for Echo Fox's League of Legends franchise". Polygon. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Evil Geniuses confirm acquisition of Echo Fox's LCS spot". ESPN.com. September 26, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Sources: Rick Fox to be ousted from Echo Fox". ESPN.com. September 27, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Rick Fox sues business partners alleging fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract". ESPN.com. October 3, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
- ^ "Echo Fox reportedly dissolves, parts ways with players and staff". Dot Esports. November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- ^ Richman, Olivia. "Echo Fox investors confirm Echo Fox is 100 percent dissolved - LOL - News - WIN.gg". WIN Esports. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- ^ "LoL Esports". www.lolesports.com. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
- ^ "NA LCS 2018 Spring Split | Teams and Standings". www.lolesports.com. LoL Esports. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ^ Wolf, Jacob (August 17, 2019). "Ousted from LCS, Echo Fox release players". Field Level Media via ESPN. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
- ^ "Echo Fox allows players to exit". HLTV.org. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ "iBUYPOWER Masters 2016 - Liquipedia Counter-Strike Wiki". wiki.teamliquid.net. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ Mueller, Saira; Jurek, Steven. "Echo Fox gets into fighting games, sign SFV player Julio Fuentes". The Daily Dot. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
- ^ a b Steiner, Dustin. "Echo Fox Signs Mew2King". PVP Live. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
- ^ a b c Beck, Kellen. "Echo Fox signs 7 players to build largest fighting game roster in esports". Mashable. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
- ^ Smith, Connor. "Echo Fox vs the world: Why the growing FGC rivalry is good for esports". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
- ^ Nordmark, Sam. "Echo Fox acquires top talent in Tekken". Dot eSports. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ "Echo Fox Signs Jon "dekillsage" Coello to Its Fighting Game Roster - Echo Fox". www.echofox.gg. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Echo Fox Announces New Call of Duty Roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
