User:Pbrks/The Guard (esports)

The Guard is an American professional esports organization headquartered in Inglewood, California and owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE). Originally founded in August 2017 under the name KSE Esports, KSE renamed the organization to The Guard in November 2021 to unify their esports divisions.

History
The Guard was founded when Stan and Josh Kroenke purchased a franchise slot in the Overwatch League on August 10, 2017, and founded their new esports business KSE Esports to run the team. KSE Esports took on a second team, the Los Angeles Guerrillas On November 5, 2021, KSE renamed KSE Esports to The Guard to unify their esports division under its banner. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2726556-cloud9-los-angeles-rams-owners-join-overwatch-league

On June 17, 2022, The Guard announced their application to VALORANT's franchised league for 2023 by projecting their logo and the VALORANT logo on the roof of SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park, which is owned by KSE.

Los Angeles Gladiators
The KSE Overwatch team, later announced to be the Los Angeles Gladiators, was one of the first 12 teams in the Overwatch League. The Gladiators finished 4th in the regular season and lost to the eventual champions London Spitfire in the playoffs.

In 2019, the Gladiators finished in fifth place in the regular season, with a record of 17-11. They upset the Hangzhou Spark in the first round of the playoffs before losing to both eventual finalists in the upper semifinals and lower round 2 to finish 5-6th.

The 2020 OWL season saw a regional split created partway through the season caused by COVID-19. The Gladiators finished 6th of 13 teams in North America, but lost both matches in the NA playoffs bracket.

The Gladiators saw a massive turnaround at the midway point of the 2021 season, winning the their first tournament in franchise history in the Countdown Cup. They finished second in the West region before again losing to both eventual finalists in the playoffs.

The Gladiators continued their late 2021 success in 2022, winning both the West Kickoff Clash tournament in Dallas, Texas, and the global Midseason Madness tournament, the latter of which came with USD$500,000. The team struggled in the second half of the season, but maintained second place in the West before finishing 7-8th in the playoffs.

Gladiators Legion
On February 15th, 2018, the Gladiators announced the founding of their academy team, Gladiators Legion, to compete in Overwatch Contenders. The team most notably finished 4-1 in the group stage of their first tournament, 2018 North America Season 1, before being eliminated in the playoffs by OpTic Gaming's academy team OpTic Academy.

The 2019 Contenders season saw North America split into NA East and NA West; GLL was moved to NA East, where they took second in both seasons, losing to Fusion University and ATL Academy in season 1 and 2, respectively. Following season 2, they qualified for their first international tournament, The Gauntlet, held in October in Seoul, South Korea. Gladiators Legion got out of the group stage, qualifying for the lower playoff bracket, where they were eliminated in the first round by Talon Esports. On December 4th, Gladiators Legion disbanded, leaving the Gladiators without an academy team.

Call of Duty
On August 20, 2019, KSE purchased a spot in the inaugural season of the Call of Duty League, later announced as the Los Angeles Guerrillas. The team finished last in the regular season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to crosstown rival OpTic Gaming Los Angeles.

The Guerrilas finished 11th of 12 teams in Season 2 with 100 points, failing to qualify for playoffs.

In 2022, LAG again did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing 10th in the regular season.

Valorant
The Guard's VALORANT roster was announced on November 5th, 2021. The VALORANT team first competed on November 28 in a Nerd Street Gamers Winter Championship Open Qualifier, where they finished in the top 16. On January 30, the VALORANT squad qualified for Stage 1 Challengers via Open Qualifier #1. The Guard defeated OpTic Gaming to win their first Challengers event. They took 7-8th in their first global LAN, Masters Reykjavik. After finishing low in Stage 2 Challengers, The Guard failed to qualify for VALORANT Champions through the Last Chance Qualifier, taking second place to 100 Thieves.

After VALORANT moved to a franchised model for the 2023 tour, The Guard's application to the Americas League was denied. They were instead directly invited to North America Challengers Split 1, which became the second-tier league below Champions Tour.

Halo
The Guard's Halo roster was announced on November 5th, 2021. The team first competed in the Halo Championship Series Kickoff Major Open Bracket, where they became one of eight teams to qualify for the main upper bracket. They took 13-16th, losing to Natus Vincere. After failing to qualify for Pro Series 1, on January 22, 2022, the Halo roster was released.

Apex Legends
The Guard signed Torrent, an Apex Legends team, on October 18th, 2022, their first foray into a new game in over a year. The Guard also acquired their spot in ALGS North America Pro League, where they finished 3rd in Split 1. This qualified them for Split 1 Playoffs, their first global LAN event.