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The owners of Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, the Viola family, have officially acquired esports organization FlyQuest. Sunrise is the parent company of the Florida Panthers, and the trade is just one of the numerous esports acquisitions carried out by the major sports organization.
The Viola family purchased the North American team from Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wesley Edena and Fortress Investment Group. The sale is FlyQuest’s first time having new owners since 2017, when the organization was founded.
Due to the acquisition, the Viola family will have ownership of all FlyQuest’s assets in League of Legends with the LCS. The influence will also stretch to the organization’s prominent presence in the Super Smash Bros. Melee esports scene.
Neither party has revealed the financial details concerning the acquisition. The announcement of the sale revealed that the new owners of FlyQuest would ensure that the company continues to “Showcase Greatness” by bagging partnerships and activations as well as moving on to other esports titles in the future.
At the moment, FlyQuest participates in League of Legends via the organization’s LCS franchise and also competes in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The organization’s LCS squad finished sixth and fifth, respectively, during last year’s summer and spring splits. FlyQuest also qualified for the League of Legends World Championship in 2020 and represented North America for the first time in the team’s history.
The president of the Viola family office, Michael Viola, spoke on the acquisition in a press release, revealing that the Florida Panthers were excited about the future of the North American team.
”We are excited about the future of the esports industry, and we were drawn to FlyQuest’s culture and commitment to playing for a greater purpose,” he said.
“We are excited to lead FlyQuest in its next chapter as a mission-driven organization that competes at the highest level both in North America and on the world stage.”
Viola also went on to thank the CEO of FlyQuest as well as “the Edens family, LCS Commissioner Jackie Felling, Riot Games” for the support of each party while the process was being conducted.
The current FlyQuest CEO, Michael Choi, will carry on as the company’s head despite the new owners. He previously took the reins from Tricia Sugita, FlyQuest’s former CEO. Choi also spoke on the acquisition, revealing that it gave the esports organization a chance to begin a new era of displaying their greatness.
“I believe we’ll be able to usher in a new era for FlyQuest, one that furthers our mission of showcasing greatness, both competitively and in the way we serve the greater good,” Choi said.
The organization’s internal structure will remain the same with the acquisition, and the Viola family will instead work hand-in-hand with the already established team to build on FlyQuest’s existing structure.
FlyQuest have made an impact both on and off the competitive stage over the past two years. The organization brought in “Go Green” initiatives, which served to integrate the success of the team in competitions with an environmental cause. FlyQuest’s most recent activation took place in the 2022 LCS season when the organization introduced the TreeQuest x Priceless Planet Coalition campaign.
FlyQuest ended their LCS season this year with one of their most impressive performances since 2017, when FlyQuest started playing competitively. The squad had players like Loïc “toucouille” Dubois and Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black to help them come out on top in a number of instances. FlyQuest reached the playoffs of the spring and summer splits, but they were unable to qualify for the 2022 Worlds.
