Gray Television Places Bet On Envy Gaming

Gray Television and Envy Gaming, an esports and entertainment company based in Dallas, jointly announced today that Gray is leading a $40 million investment round for the organization. As the lead investor in Envy’s Series C round, Gray will invest $28.5 million and name two directors to the Envy Gaming board of directors.

Hilton H. Howell Jr., Gray’s executive chairman and CEO, said: “We’re excited to lead this investment in Envy Gaming, an organization known for breaking ground and pushing the limits of what the future holds for gaming and entertainment.”

Founded in 2007, Envy includes a growing network of content creators, competitive gamers, and esports teams with global reach across multiple platforms. Envy owns and operates the world champion Dallas Empire team in the Call of Duty League, the Dallas Fuel team in the Overwatch League, and the Team Envy franchise that competes in Halo, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros, Valorant and other games.

Envy says its business has seen diversification and growth in the last 12 months, including the following milestones:

• Superstar Post Malone joining ownership group.
• Winning the inaugural Call of Duty League World Championship in 2020, which featured a $4.6 million prize pool.
• Adding two of the fastest-growing female streamers, Alexandra Botez and Andrea Botez.
• Fielding top ranked teams in North America in Valorant and Rocket League.
• Partnering with Belong Gaming Arenas to bring multiple gaming centers to North Texas.
• Opening a 21,000-square-foot state-of-the-art training facility and live production and content studio in Dallas, Texas.

“Esports and gaming is the fastest-growing area across all of media and entertainment,” said Adam Rymer, CEO of Envy Gaming. “Building global communities through content and engagement, similar to what the world has seen in the music, film and TV industries, is an endeavor we’re incredibly excited to work on with Gray as our partner.”

The ownership group at Envy Gaming includes esports industry pioneer Mike Rufail, Post Malone and Ken Hersh, a minority owner of the Texas Rangers. Additional partners include prominent Texas families and select national investors.

“From the first time we talked to Gray, it became evident to me that our leadership team and winning culture at Envy had found a perfect partner to help continue our great success,” Rufail said.