Wolves Esports secures £20m investment for Home Esports Arena

Wolves Esports Club (Wolves Esports), the subsidiary of Fosun Sports and the esports division for the football Club Wolverhampton, has announced a strategic investment from Chongqing Lvfazhiye Group Co., Ltd. (Lvfa Group) to build its own esports venue in China.

According to a release, the funding will also be used to upgrade the team’s structure and strengthen its position across competitive performance, brand development and commercial monetisation.

With a total investment of 200m RMB (~£20.7m), the esports venue is currently under construction in the Bishan district in Chongqing and is expected to have a floor area of around 10,000 square meters. The venue is expected to open by the end of the year and will accommodate 2,000 spectators.

Wolves has been investing heavily in China through its esports division, having already built the first infrastructure of 1,500 square meters for its staff and players.

The team based in Chongqing has had the offline home venue for its Honor of Kings division since 2023. The venue has hosted over 130 offline esports events, including the KPL home matches, Challenger Cup and the DOTA National Championship, attracting nearly 200,000 spectators and stimulating the local economy by nearly 100m RMB (~£10.3m), according to a release.

Aside from Honor of Kings, Wolves Esports is currently competing across several other game titles, including VALORANT, QQ Speed, Identity V, Naraka: Bladepoint, Call of Duty: Mobile, and FC Online.

In particular, its VALORANT division is defying expectations on the international stage, having reached the top four at the VCT Masters Toronto.

Deng Houjun, President of Fosun Sports Group, commented on the deal: “We hope to use this financing as a springboard to deepen our ‘esports + city’ integrated industry model, strengthen our professional operations, and expand across the esports value chain.

“While enhancing competitive performance, we will also invest in building a digital content ecosystem and develop a ‘tournament-content-commerce’ trinity model. Through diversified commercial models and deep integration with urban industries, Wolves Esports is poised to become a globally influential esports brand and inject fresh momentum into the sustainable development of China’s esports sector.”

Disclaimer: The quote was translated from Chinese to English.