Shaquille O'Neal's Reason For Entering Esports World And His Love For Rocket League
Shaquille O'Neal is one of the most renowned basketball players, even after quitting the sport. And it doesn't matter to him whether it's played on a console or physically.
Shaquille O'Neal tweeted about his preferred eSports squad. He made a significant financial commitment to the group and joined them in a game of Rocket League to energise them for an upcoming competition.
O'Neal's kids once requested that he take them to an esports competition at the Staples Center years ago. The electricity he felt emanating from the arena astounded him.
“I’m in L.A. with my kids and they asked, ‘Dad can you take us to the Staples Center? So we go in, walk in the back, and as I’m walking through the tunnel, I hear, ‘ahhhhhh!'”
“But as I came around the corner, I see kids, I see the stage,” he continued. “I see kids playing games and I see guys going back and forth and I’m like, ‘What is this?’ They’re like, ‘Dad it’s esports!'”
“It’s really fun to see what the kids got into,” he exclaimed. “So then when I get home, I’m calling all my technology friends asking, ‘Hey have you heard of esports?’ They said yeah it’s emerging it’s going to be big.”
He invested in NRG Esports early on and most recently used his relationship with the car insurance firm The General to negotiate the first-ever naming rights agreement for NRG's Rocket League club.
The General has acquired naming rights for NRG's Rocket League squad as part of this relationship, marking the first Rocket League naming rights deal in North American history.
O'Neal undoubtedly understands how to defeat the opposing squad in a game. And he was doing that while playing Rocket League with his longtime favourite group, NRG.