Credit: Washington Justice
- Overwatch League franchise Washington Justice has named Grant Paranjape as its new vice president of esports business.
- Paranjape is a former pro player and led the development of Wizards District Gaming for the inaugural NBA 2K League season.
- In his new role, Paranjape will lead business and team operations, expand the local Justice fanbase, and add additional esports teams under parent company Washington Esports Ventures.
Overwatch 
League expansion franchise Washington Justice announced the hire of Grant Paranjape as its vice president of esports business.
Paranjape was a professional World of Warcraft player before joining Monumental Sports and Entertainment, where he led the development of its inaugural NBA 2K League team, Wizards District Gaming
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In his new role, Paranjape will lead business and team operations for the Washington Justice franchise and use his previous experience to build a local fanbase ahead of home games in 2020.
“Whenever you have the opportunity to work with an organization that’s been as successful as the NBA has, there’s always something you can take away from it whether it’s how they approach marketing for different fans and how they segment audiences to how they look at analytics and data, and even just how passionate they are about the product,” Paranjape told The Esports Observer. “It’s been really refreshing [to see] that the Overwatch League has a very similar approach—it’s a very data-driven league backed by one of the greatest publishers in the world and certainly has the stats to back it up as well.”
In a release, Washington Justice majority owner Mark Ein said that the organization is committed to building a “world-class esports organization” starting with the Washington Justice and expanding into other titles.
Related Article: Events DC Becomes Founding Sponsor of Washington Justice
The Justice is an Overwatch League and therefore cannot use the name to compete in other games. However, Paranjape will lead expansion plans under parent company Washington Esports Ventures.
“Mark Ein has already started picking up a number of prominent sports properties here in the D.C. area [including] the Citi Open, Washington Kastles, the Justice, and City Paper as well,” Paranjape said. “I think he really sees it as a holistic ecosystem where there are ways that teams can work across properties provide value to each other.
“The nice thing about esports is that nobody knows the future holds. Overwatch League and NBA 2K League [didn’t exist] two years ago. For us, we’re always open to opportunities whether that’s an Activision Blizzard
The Justice is currently playing in its inaugural season in the Overwatch League with Events DC as its founding partner. Beginning with the 2020 season, all League teams will play half of their games on the road and the other half at home. This has prompted teams to either partner with a local venue or build their own.
“To their credit, I think Justice has done a great job vetting and scouting a number of venues,” said Paranjape. “There are no final decisions yet but our approach goes back to giving fans an experience that’s worthy of them, of D.C. and one that is ultimately worth spending dollars against. It’s not simply enough to have the players on stage playing against another team—it really is going to be more of a festival or night out experience.”
