Echo Fox was an American esports organization. It was founded on December 18, 2015 by retired basketball player Rick Fox, who created Echo Fox after he purchased the NA LCS spot of Gravity Gaming. The organization had expanded into various games with teams competing in titles such as Call of Duty, , Dragon Ball FighterZ, Injustice 2,Madden NFL 19, Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros., and Street Fighter V. Echo Fox had several fighting game players with championship titles and are a well known organization in the professional scene.
Controversies
On December 18, 2015 Rick Fox and his business partners, Amit Raizada and Khalid Jones, entered the professional esports scene with their acquisition of the NA LCS spot of Gravity Gaming, creating a new team named Echo Fox. According to Raizada, he and Jones "both offered up $1 million each to get the new team off the ground" while Fox "never put in any of his own money into Echo Fox." Fox and Raizada subsequently had a falling out, in which Raizada claims Fox attempted to extort him of $5 million. In April 2019, Fox threatened to leave the esports team after accusing Raizada of making racist comments against him and Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall, as well as threatening Fox's family. In response, Riot Games, which operates the LCS, launched an investigation. It ordered Echo Fox to remove Raizada, or it would have to sell its spot in the LCS within 60 days, saying "hate speech, threats, and bigotry have no place in the LCS." With Echo Fox unable to remove Raizada, Riot Games came up with an agreement to end Echo Fox's participation in the LCS. Kroenke Sports and Entertainment agreed to a deal for the LCS slot soon after for $30.25 million, however, the deal fell through due to legal issues with their partner, Sentinels. After the deadline given to Echo Fox to sell their slot ended, Riot Games announced its plans to sell off the newly vacated LCS franchise spot to a new team, with most of the proceeds going to Echo Fox. Riot games selected Evil Geniuses as the organization that would acquire Echo Fox's League Championship Series slot. In September 2019, A lawsuit ousting general partner Rick Fox was sent to Fox by several of his business partners, stating Fox had repeatedly worked against the best interests of the company. The letter sent had several signatures including: Vision Esports head Stratton Sclavos, investor Daniel Deshe, Raizada Group manager Ravi Srivastava and Khalid Jones, who was Fox's partner in the general partnership. Fox filed a lawsuit against his business partners Amit Raizada and Stratton Sclavos alleging the two partners committed fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract against him. In November 2019, with numerous rumors spreading about Echo Fox splitting apart over the lawsuits, an Echo Fox investor officially confirmed the organization was disbanded.
''League of Legends''
On January 23, 2016, due to some concerns over player work-eligibility, Echo Fox was unable to submit a roster and was required to forfeit their match against NRG Esports. Echo Fox finished last in the 2016 Summer NA LCS, forcing a relegation match. They defeated NRG Esports 3-0 in relegations and qualified for the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split. In 2018, the North American League of Legends Championship Series moved to a franchised league and Echo Fox invested in a spot as a permanent partner. Echo Fox later received an equity investment from the New York Yankees and a new roster, which finished 2nd in the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split with 12 wins and 7 losses after losing a tiebreaker to 100 Thieves. On August 16, 2019, the rosters of both Echo Fox and Echo Fox Academy were released, and the organization departed the professional League of Legends scene.
''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''
While no official reason has been given for Echo Fox allowing its players to leave, it is rumored that this was due to poor performances at both ELEAGUE Season 2 and IBUYPOWER Masters 2016. At ELEAGUE, Echo Fox lost versus Virtus.pro, and versus G2 Esports. At iBUYPOWER Masters 2016 Echo Fox finished a disappointing 5th–6th place.
Fighting games
Echo Fox entered the fighting game community on April 29, 2016 by signing Street Fighter V player Julio Fuentes. A month later, they would sign Super Smash Bros. pro Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman. In 2017, Echo Fox would make one of the biggest signings in esports history by signing seven FGC players all at once, three of which previously represented Evil Geniuses. The players were Street Fighter players Justin Wong, Yusuke Momochi, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, and Yuko "ChocoBlanka" Momochi, Mortal Kombat players Dominique "SonicFox" McLean and Brad "Scar" Vaughn, and Super Smash Bros. player Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez Perez. At the same time, Echo Fox signed former Evil Geniuses manager Antonio "CoolGrayAJ" Javier as the team's new manager. Echo Fox would continue growing their team with the signing of Korean and French Tekken pros Saint, JDCR and VorttexX-Shadow, bringing their roster up to thirteen players.
''Call of Duty''
On May 13, 2016 Echo Fox added a Call of Duty team with a roster of Jeremy "Neslo" Olsen, Jordan "Proof" Cannon, Jonathan "SinfuL" Baez, and Josh "Cyborg" Kimpson. In November, all players except Neslo were dropped and replaced by Anthony "Methodz" Zinni, Teegan "TcM" McCarthy, and Tanner "Mosh" Clark.
