Xboxist

Championship Gaming Series Announces First Six Franchise Cities

The Championship Gaming Series (CGS), the first worldwide professional gaming league, announced today that its first six franchise teams will be based in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Charlotte.

In addition, CGS named the six General Managers for these city-based teams. Drawn from a mix of pro gaming stalwarts and luminaries, they represent a new generation of leadership in the world of gaming and will be responsible for shaping the most competitive gaming teams in history. The list of GMs includes the following individuals:

Jason Lake, with a reputation as a fierce competitor and relentless recruiter, will remain at the helm of compLexity, and the team will become the CGS franchise in the Los Angeles market.

Dave Geffon, one of the most celebrated pro gamers in the world, will take over as GM of Team 3D after six years of great success as a player. 3D will become the New York City franchise for the league.

Alex Conroy, the animated founder of Jax Money Crew, a front-running pro-gaming squad that has enjoyed great success, both domestically and internationally, will take the reigns of the Dallas franchise.

Mark Dolven will lead the Charlotte team. Dolven boasts a background in marketing and has a track record of building a successful pro gaming brand as president of Team Pandemic.

Kat Hunter, a long time pro gaming evangelist and respected gaming journalist, is now in charge of the new CGS San Francisco franchise.

Brian Flander, a pioneer of gamer product endorsements, heads up the new CGS Chicago franchise after years as a pro gamer competing in Quake and Counter-Strike. Flander will also draw from his experience as the manager of Team Onslaught.

“We’re excited to announce our first six cities and looking forward to unveiling these teams at our inaugural Draft,” said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. “We’re also very proud of our first group of GMs. Each of them will play a vital role in the success of the league. The GMs will recruit, draft, and manage their teams and then be responsible for day-to-day management of each franchise. It will be up to the GMs to lead their teams to victory during the upcoming regular season and playoffs. Each of them is scouting talent and will be making their decisions on players to draft after a thorough evaluation at the Region 1 Combine.”

The General Managers will see the league’s top prospects battle it out at the Region 1 Combine June 9-11, 2007 at the legendary FOX Studios in Los Angeles. Players at the Regional Combine will be eligible for the CGS Draft on June 12 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

Drafted players will take their places on a team in one of the six Region 1 cities announced today. They will be flown to Los Angeles for the regular season, and beginning June 23, will receive salaries drawn from the $5 million league payroll. Drafted players will earn at least $30,000 and could earn more than $100,000 in annual salary and bonuses.

CGS events will be broadcast in the U.S. exclusively on DIRECTV’s 101.

For more information, please go to www.thecgs.com.