Why Fnatic is giving fans a chance to part-own the team

"We're giving our fans a chance to own a piece of the future," Sam Mathews tells Newsbeat.

Fnatic, one of the most established esports brands, is offering people a chance to buy a small portion of its business.

Sam, the boss of team, says fan ownership could become more common in esports.

"There's no truer way of bringing fans on your journey than giving an actual opportunity to own a piece of it."

The team recently secured nearly £7.5 million in private funding but wants a small percentage of the business - about 1.5% - to be owned by fans.

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"Until now there hasn't really been a way for fans of esports to join their favourite teams," Sam says.

Fnatic has teams competing in titles like CS:GO and League of Legends

"It's only been available to very rich individuals or institutional investors.

"This is definitely not about getting an extra cash injection, it's about the three and a half thousand people so far, who've come along to invest.

"This is democratising access, we want to give them a place to voice their opinion, give a transparent view into what we're doing, where we're going and why."

Fan ownership, while far from the norm, is more common in traditional sports compared to esports.

In Germany the rules on football ownership require teams to be owned either fully or partly by fans.

In England many lower league football clubs, like Wycombe Wanderers, Accrington Stanley and Carlisle are partly owned by fans - although no Premier League clubs are at the moment.

In the NFL, the Green Bay Packers are owned by the fans.

Sam Mathews founded Fnatic 16 years ago

Sam thinks esports will benefit by offering people a chance to do the same, even if it is only a small portion of the overall structure of the team.

"I think one of the things that a lot of companies or teams get wrong is not asking often enough - what does the community actually want?

"Recently we had a big change in our League of Legends roster, and our fans were disgruntled, they were upset.

"So we opened the doors and let them ask us anything about why and how it happened.

"Afterwards they were thanking us for being transparent and so we want to give them that all year round."

Encouraging fans to invest and tying them financially to the success of Fnatic both in and out of competitions has a degree of risk.

With money involved, fans will likely be more upset if team performances don't go as planned, which can increase the pressure on players to perform.

If the thousands of new stakeholders in the brand don't feel like they're being listened to, then they could turn their backs on the organisation.

Sam accepts that giving fans a degree of ownership, even if small, gives them the entitlement to be more vocal in their disappointment when decisions are made they don't agree with.

He says he's ready to be "communicative" even after the crowdfunding process is over.

"We've told the world everything, the ins and outs of our business and are answering every question."

There's also the risk that should things go majorly wrong, and the team goes bust, people could lose their investment.

Sam says that is unlikely, saying they have big ambitions and are "really looking into a five year plan and growth strategy."

Fan investors won't own a large stake in the team and will eventually be able to sell their stock if they want to.

So far more than 3000 people have signed up, pledging more than £1.5 million combined.

"I definitely think that if other teams are willing to get their community on board, then they should definitely do this," Sam says.

"I'm sure we're going to see others following this path."

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