Atlanta Esports Ventures was founded in 2018 as a partnership between Cox Enterprises, a global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and Province Inc., a financial advisory firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Paul Hamilton was selected as the company's president and CEO due to his values and history working with Cox.
[2][3] Activision Blizzard had been expecting to sell Atlanta one of the expansion slots, as president and CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues Pete Vlastlica noted, "We always had our eye on [Atlanta], from the beginning.
[5] On May 2, 2019, Activision Blizzard announced that AEV had purchased one of the first five franchise slots for the Call of Duty League.
According to ESPN, the publisher was looking to sell slots for approximately $25 million per team.