Madison Square Gardens hires Twitch VP as head of esports

One of the USA's biggest names in sports is making moves on the esports market with a significant hire.

Madison Square Gardens (the holding company that owns the arena of the same name) has announced that Nick Allen will join its ranks on October 2nd as vice president of esports, The Esports Observer reports. Allen leaves streaming platform Twitch, where he has held the same position since 2015.

The holding company, which also owns the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, has also purchased a controlling stake in Counter Logic Gaming, the US esports organisation that owns the longest running professional League of Legends team.

Allen will also take on a new role at CLG as chief operating officer. Across his new roles, he'll be in charge of developing media rights opportunities and creating live, ticketed events as Madison Square Gardens attempts to establish itself as an esports arena.

"Nick brings with him an extensive knowledge of esports and a deep set of relationships developed through overseeing some of the industry's most popular events," said MSG Sports EVP Jordan Solomon. "He has created initiatives that have continued to grow the gaming community. His vision for the esports space will be an invaluable asset to The Madison Square Garden Company and to CLG."

At Twitch, Allen was responsible for handling the firm's esports budget and growing its role in the competitive gaming scene. Before this, he worked as esports operation manager at Riot Games, where he helped to create the League of Legends Championship Series and World Championship.