by Los Grandes announces the purchase of 100% equity of Simplicity Esports’ Brazilian outfit. The Brazilian Esports organization is now the sole owner of the North American organization’s operation in Brazil. By extension, Los Grandes now owns a slot in the Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLOL).
With the purchase comes the total ownership of Simplicity’s assets, structure, professionals, and contracts in Brazil. Los Grandes has also taken ownership of the brand licensing deal with the football club Clube de Regatas do Flamengo as well as the CBLOL spot.
While the CBLOL team will retain its name as the ‘Flamengo Los Grandes’ until the end of the year. It will be renamed ‘Los Grandes for the 2023 season and beyond.
This is coming on the back of the organization’s announcement a few weeks ago of its purchase of 20% of Simplicity’s Brazilian faction. It was imperative to Los Grandes expansion plan that it secures an entry into CBLOL. With the brand’s focus keyed into competitive activities rather than content production and its exclusive dedication to Free Fire in esports.
According to Los Grandes Advisor Rodrigo Terron, the management is looking to position the franchise as an elite within the mainstream competitive space. While it had invested in Valorant, Wild Rift and prioritized Counter-Strike, the franchise saw an opportunity to make an entry into CBLOL and took it.
“We are looking at how to position the organization in the elite of the main competitive scenarios,” Terron said. “CBLOL was there, we just didn’t know if it was for this year or next year. We prioritized CS [Counter-Strike], went into Valorant, invested in Wild Rift, and when we saw an opportunity to accelerate that, we went after CBLOL.”
The franchise had revealed that a 100% purchase at the time was not possible owing to an “impediment in the CBLOL regulation.”
Rumor has it that the recent backlash faced by Simplicity from the Brazilian community created the opportunity and placed Los Grandes in an advantageous position to attain full acquisition of the franchise. A former League of Legends Flamengo Esports Academy player Leonardo ‘Lynkez’ Cassuci accused the franchise of not paying salaries as when due and limiting players with their lack of a better structure.
The accusation was not received well by the community which led to the backlash. Simplicity had already been under close scrutiny by Riot Games for allegations of gross misconduct and blackmail. With Los Grandes taking over the franchise, there will be a pressure reduction from the community and Riot Games is taking drastic actions against Simplicity.
While the CBLOL spot was said to have been purchased for about $4 million, the amount paid by Los Grandes to acquire it from Simplicity was not revealed, nor was it disclosed if the amount owed to Riot Games had been settled.
With the accusations made and public slander, coupled with its stock plummeting and hitting an all-time low since it traded publicly in the US, Simplicity Esports decided to part ways with its Brazilian franchise.
