Until Dallas energy mogul Ken Hersh invested $35 million to buy a large chunk of Team Envy and move the team's 50 professional players and headquarters to Dallas, many of us hadn't paid much attention to esports — where professional gamers square off in teams to the delight of thousands of spectators gathered in arenas.
Meetings with more than a dozen possible partners hadn’t borne fruit and the clock was ticking. Video game publisher Activision Blizzard was just weeks from announcing charter members of the Overwatch League, and on June 1, Riot Games demanded applications for permanent spots in its League of Legends circuit by mid-July.
When Nabil Pervez moved to Frisco, Texas, in 2003, the then-13-year-old felt out of place.
Pervez rode through the small suburb of Dallas, with roughly 34,000 people at the time, and saw hills of green and cattle. Originally from Chicago, the big-city teen's life had certainly changed.