Wikipedia - Counter Logic Gaming

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) was an American esports organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel as a League of Legends team, and branched out into other games.

CLG fielded the oldest League of Legends team active at the time, having competed in every split of the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) since it began in Spring 2013. CLG won two NA LCS splits, the 2015 Summer NA LCS and 2016 Spring NA LCS. The team also attended the 2012, 2015 and 2016 League of Legends World Championships, and was eliminated in the group stage on each occasion.

The organization also fielded Smite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, H1Z1, Valorant, Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Halo, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, and Call of Duty teams. The organization was also one of the first in North America to implement a multi-team gaming house, and the current residence is able to house all their major divisions and the management staff on a permanent basis.

On July 31, 2017, Madison Square Garden Sports acquired a controlling stake in CLG.

On April 6, 2023, NRG Esports acquired CLG. The terms of the sale included only CLG's flagship League of Legends team, with all other players and staff being laid off. The CLG brand was officially shuttered post-acquisition. Consequently, Madison Square Garden Sports now owns a major stake in NRG.

History

Organization

Counter Logic Gaming was founded to compete in League of Legends tournaments by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel in April 2010. In December 2011, Counter Logic Gaming merged with the Absolute Legends organization. Although the two organizations decided to separate a month later, the ex-AbsoluteLegends roster chose to stay with CLG, as Counter Logic Gaming Europe. On February 2, 2012, the organization announced that it had acquired the Dota 2 roster of Swedish team eXperience Gaming. In May of that year, Georgallidis created a CLG League of Legends B team, known as Counter Logic Gaming Black. On July 2, 2012, HotshotGG stepped down from the position of active CEO of Counter Logic Gaming, citing a wish to focus more on his game-play, and was replaced by his mother, Helen Georgallidis.

In October 2012, CLG's Dota 2 team officially disbanded, with most of the players having left weeks before. Less than three months later, in late December, CLG.EU elected not to re-sign their contracts, instead signing with Evil Geniuses. The organization also disbanded CLG Black, leaving the original League of Legends team as the only roster under the Counter Logic Gaming banner. CEO Helen Georgallidis and COO Robert "CyberBob" Del Papa resigned with these announcements, and Kelby May was promoted to general manager for the organization. Kelby remained at CLG for two years until September 2014, when he stepped down; Matthew "MaTTcom" Marikian was promoted to general manager, while Bryan "bchenN" Chen was hired as the director of finance and operations.

On November 10, 2014, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had acquired the Shoot to Kill (now Final Boss) Halo roster, including professional Halo veteran Tom "OGRE 2" Ryan, branded under the name Counter Logic Gaming Halo. In January 2015, the organization also acquired the ex-mouseSpaz Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster as CLG.CS, and reestablished the CLG Black brand that same month. On June 14, 2015, the organization expanded into Super Smash Bros. Melee, picking up Kevin "PewPewU" Toy. On July 7, 2015, the all-female ex-Ubinite roster was announced as CLG Red, a second Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, and on August 6, 2015, the organization announced that Devin "Mylixia" Nash had become the new CEO, while HotshotGG became the President/Owner of Counter Logic Gaming.

On December 2, 2015, the organization announced that they had expanded into Call of Duty by acquiring the roster of Denial eSports.

On July 31, 2017, Madison Square Garden Sports, owners of the NBA team New York Knicks and the NHL team New York Rangers acquired a controlling stake in CLG.

On April 3, 2023, independent League of Legends reporter Travis Gafford reported that CLG would be closing its esports operations, laying off its staff, and laying off all of its teams, including the sale of its LCS slot. On April 6, 2023, NRG Esports acquired CLG, with MSG becoming a major shareholder in NRG.

Controversies

Major League Gaming

On November 8, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming was disqualified from the MLG Providence 2011 Qualifiers. Having won their qualification match against RFLXGaming, it transpired that the team had fielded Luis "Lapaka" Perez in place of Ho-jin "Lilac" Jeon. Lapaka was registered as the team leader for AbsoluteLegends, another team in the tournament, and had played in a match between AbsoluteLegends and Team SoloMid. MLG ruled that CLG's decision to illegally use Lapaka as a ringer for their match against RFLXGaming warranted disqualification and confiscation of all prize money.

LCS fines and punishments

On August 12, 2014, Riot Games' Nick Allen announced that four members of Counter Logic Gaming's League of Legends team were to be fined US$1,250 for violating the League of Legends Championship Series rule associated with account sharing during their stay in Korea. These same players were also banned from Ongamenet (OGN) and Korean e-Sports Association-owned tournaments for two years. On December 10, 2014, CLG was fined US$10,000 by Riot, after being found guilty of soliciting Team Dignitas' William "Scarra" Li without acquiring his current team's approval. Additionally, Scarra was prohibited from serving as CLG's head coach on stage for the first three weeks of the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split. On January 6, 2015, after this first ruling, CLG's management voluntarily revealed a similar violation regarding the recruitment of Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaya. CLG was fined $2,000 by Riot, while Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng was fined US$2,500 for encouraging the violation. Furthermore, the team was restricted from fielding ZionSpartan for the first week of the 2015 LCS.