Kroenke Sports & Entertainment has made a pair of interesting hires, bringing on ESPN Senior Editor Ryan Garfat and former YouTube & Riot Games employee Alex Rubens to the team, according to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf.
The two become the first hires in the new front office for the company’s esports ventures after a recruiting process headed by executives Josh Kroenke and Michael Neary.
Rubens will work on team operations for the Gladiators and Guerrillas while continuing his work with the Los Angeles Rams, the NFL team owned by the Kroenke family
Both Rubens and Garfat are set to be involved operationally with a new 6,000-person venue adjacent to the Rams new home, SoFi Stadium, near Los Angeles International Airport in Inglewood, California.
“[Alex and Ryan] both have a wide variety of experience across the esports world. Not just the esports world, but the gaming community in general,” Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Josh Kroenke said, via the report. “They both bring different types of experience to the table both on the business side and team operation side just because of their exposure and their experiences.”
“We’re very ambitious now with the Hollywood Park project, to say the least,” Kroenke stated. “We took on a lot there and when we started to think through the performance venue, way back to our initial Gladiators investment, we thought it was a great way, an additional way to bring a completely different demographic than we would attract with the Rams. We’re really excited to push the possibilities. Los Angeles is the hotbed of the gaming community and we’re really excited.”
