Rick Fox: 'I feel F@#!ed'

So, Echo Fox is selling their slot in the LCS to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Riot still has to approve the sale and Rick Fox is not happy about how this all went down.

How the hell did we get here?

Rick Fox podcast
Courtesy: PodcastOne

Rick Fox photo
Courtesy: Riot Games

Dexerto articles
Courtesy: Dexerto

ESPN esports articles
Courtesy: ESPN

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

[tomng]

Rick fox is the face of eSports for the media. He has done so much for us and he deserves better then this in return

[enricouy]

A racist, family-threatening shareholder won over an NBA champ who almost singlehandedly bridged the gap between traditional sports and esports? What kind of world is this...

[DivusMagus]

never was an echo fox fan but i love rick fox for how much he has defended and fought for esports against all the negativity and ignorance around it.

[FunPlyer]

It would be a tremendous heartbreak if Rick Fox leaves esports

[paradoxinraindrops]

At the most, I passively followed the team but GODDAMN do I feel bad for Fox. Dude put it all on the field & got bent.

[heirkaiba]

What I learned; racist shareholder > NBA champion. Seriously?

[SirTwitchy]

Rick really doesnt deserve any of this im not even a echofox fan.heck im not even from NA but i know how much he cares.

[KuyaRein]

an actual celebrity decides to stand up for us nerds and immediately gets shafted. i can't help but feel guilty. dudes an NBA legend, takes one step into gaming and boom...smh. i know its not exactly a "gaming" incident, but still...it stings.

[rz_qabz]

Rick Fox was one of the only people rooting for esports when it was getting attacked by the media, and him getting treated like this is heartbreaking. God bless him. I hope things work out for him

[iluvpho]

This is sad. Raizada gets away with way more money out of this. I hope there will be a way to right this for Rick Fox

[madotee]

One of the first people who invested in the LCS out of passion, even before franchising. I hope he doesn't leave the scene at all, one way or another.

[shammerHammer]

Yo, Rick, if you read this: We appreciate you. We really do.

[DawryMike]

The esports community doesnt deserve Rick honestly

[NitefoxNirvana]

I listened to the whole GG podcast episode, and the hosts were kind of insensitive to the whole thing, I feel. Like, they only found out a few hours before they recorded the episode that the slot was being sold, and the price tag was around $30M. They were all congrats, Rick!" He said as much on the podcast, he might not even see a dollar of this transaction, the outside investors/shareholders seem to monetarily benefit the most from this. And the thing is...Rick used so many words to describe the whole situation and how it's affected him, but I feel one word rises above the rest, one he didn't use and I'd argue summarizes everything perfectly: Rick is DEVASTATED.

He originally stated he would be leaving because of the racism and threats, that he'd only stay if Raizada left. A few weeks later, he said he was going to stay and "fight the racism from within" Echo Fox. To have this whole situation crumble, having to accept selling the LCS slot after all this turmoil...I'm an Echo Fox fan and *I* feel devastated.

Raizada dug his heels in and tried to fight the allegations, hoping everything would just get swept under the rug. He tried, though it almost seemed like he didn't even care, to have some PR person or association try and run a whole "look at all the good Raizada's done" campaign, to save face. But he's been racist and bigoted for a long time, even prior investment partners from previous ventures he was a part of stated as much, with their own evidence. Raizada never cared if Echo Fox crashed and burned or if it soared to grander heights. He just wanted to make sure he didn't lose money.

This team, the LCS team, was like a pipe dream for Rick, it's pretty much the whole reason he originally got into esports. He did it to get closer with his son, Kyle, to share their love for video games and the competitive scene. And to have it all just crumble away because Raizada, who basically could call all the shots when it came to trying to oust him from the org (you can't really force an investor or shareholder out, you can't vote them out, they have to willingly sell their portion of the org to another individual or group of investors), simply didn't CARE? It's legal, but it completely reeks of bullshit. And now everybody else is effectively hurt by this apathy from Raizada: the players, the org's staff, the fans, and most especially Rick and Kyle. Their dream is basically gone, taken away by somebody else's uncaring opinion on the whole debacle.

TL;DR FUCK Amit Raizada, and best of luck to Rick and Kyle in the future, whatever they decide to do. I hope Raizada can't sleep at night...

[seeps]

It’s too bad that all these great things are constantly being torn apart because of simply put selfish actions from higher ups across the board. Very sad.

[joshjonestv]

If your an Arsenal fan, you'll understand the last person you want in charge of ANY organization is Stan Kroenke. I hate this man with a passion and hope somehow this deal falls through.#KroenkeOut

[Plague_Doc]

Dont know Fox beyond his Lakers playing days...but he's one of the key "main stream" media guys of growing Esports. He literally was the face of celebs in Esports. As gamers we owe him a lot for building the scene.

[andresfauque]

rick fox being very emotionally and funny jazz on background

why escore

[DrtyALGreen]

There is a team doing very well in EU Pro League in R6 Seige that are "Looking For Org" Rick. The Seige community would love to have you.

[nzuiz]

we must protect rick fox at all times. hes doing so much for esports its so crazy