Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver, JuJu Smith-Schuster has launched a new gaming organisation, Team Diverge.
The organisation aims to become a hub for crossover content across sports, gaming and culture, featuring popular streamers, athletes and celebrities, including the launch of its own streetwear apparel line.
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According to an official release, Team Diverge has signed several rising content creators across several titles to serve as the core of the team. Alongside this, the organisation intends to sign or develop collaborations with other notable pro players, content creators, athletes, musicians and celebrities.
The organisation will also start up a gaming house to serve as a content production hub, and launch an apparel line building on Smith-Schuster’s Team JuJu clothing company and his multiple collaborations with the likes of Adidas, MeUndies and FaZe Clan.
In his newly minted role as Founder and CEO, JuJu Smith-Schuster noted that “in creating my own organization instead of joining one of the big established ones, I know I chose a different path than most in my position would do. I’m not just trying to be a popular figure in gaming for myself; I’m trying to build a special organization that is a platform for others.
“The name Team Diverge means a lot to me. We’re aiming to move in a different direction of ordinary gaming organizations, we’re trying to be unique in how we operate. The initials also are ‘TD’, a sign of the football side of me.”
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The launch of the organisation also sees Karan Gill appointed as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, who commented that “the gaming community has grown immensely in recent years. You’ve seen collaborations with athletes in traditional sports with these popular gaming organizations, but to some degree they have become stale and repetitive.
TD is going to take athlete involvement in gaming to a completely different level. These guys won’t just be ambassadors or honorary members, they are going to be centrepieces to the team’s identity.”
Esports Insider says: Considering his involvement with FaZe Clan and gaming it seems a logical next step for JuJu Smith-Schuster. The ambitions for crossovers between content creators, athletes, celebrities and so on is a good formula for success as a gaming content hub.