Tiidal Gaming Group has announced a sponsorship agreement with supplement brand XP Sports. 

The Canadian esports and entertainment group has signed a two-year agreement with XP Sports, which specialises in formulas made specifically for gamers and esports athletes.

XP Sports will be partnering with Tiidal’s esports division, Lazarus, for the 2020-22 gaming season, for dual sponsorship of upcoming gaming events and tournaments. 

The supplement brand will also be working with and sponsoring individuals and teams on the Team Lazarus’s esports athlete roster, and content creators in the LZR network.  

Commenting on the partnership CEO of Tiidal Gaming Group, Charlie Watson, said:

“We are pleased to partner with XP Sports as they look to enter the esports market through Team Lazarus.

“XP was looking for a Canadian gaming partner that would enable them to market their world class energy supplement brand to a growing and younger demographic. After careful review, XP decided to work with the number one ranked esports team in Canada on growing activations and creating content to assist them with raising awareness around their leading supplement brand.”

While Senior Director of Marketing at Iovate Health Sciences, the makers of XP Sports, Barry Alexander, added:

“Capturing the attention of this audience is becoming increasingly challenging, but the team at Lazarus provides a unique way for us to generate the attention of this growing demographic.

“We could not be more excited to partner with and leverage the extensive Lazarus network to enable the growth of our brand.”

AYO.NEWS says:

This seems like a perfectly logical partnership for two Canadian companies. For Iovate Health Sciences, it’s an ideal way to get its XP Sports brand in front of a large number of esports fans, and for Tiidal Gaming, it gets a nutritional partnership on the books – something every decent esports organisation seems to need these days! 

Earlier this week, lifestyle sports nutrition brand GHOST announced a two-year deal with recently launched esports organisation XSET. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Esports entertainment company Allied Esports has announced a multi-year licensing partnership with esports data provider GRID.

Launching with the VIE.gg Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Legend Series tournament on 31 August, the deal will see the integration of GRID’s data solution, which will deliver real-time data to betting operators. 

Discussing the partnership CEO of Allied Esports, Frank Ng, said:

“The interest and growth of esports wagering creates an incredible amount of value around secure, official statistics, and we’re excited to partner with GRID to deliver an enriched, data-driven version of our Legend Series events to an even broader audience.

“With a global network of properties and popular tournament brands endorsed by leading data platforms, Allied Esports is well positioned to be a major content provider for the projected $20 billion esports betting market.”

While CEO of GRID Esports, Moritz Maurer, added:

“Our vision to unlock the potential of official data and video from high-quality competitions by leveraging the digital nature of esports to provide value to the regulated betting market becomes realized when we partner with companies the likes of Allied Esports. GRID and our clients are ecstatic to utilize GRID’s industry-leading platform to enhance the already stellar Legend Series.”

Berlin-based GRID also recently announced partnerships with Las Vegas-based gambling company GameCo, esports betting platform Unikrn, and Peru-based Live Media. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With the COVID-19 crisis severely affecting the live esports events scene, data rights agreements represent a much needed opportunity to generate revenue for companies like Allied. Illustrating the challenge the company is facing, earlier this month it reported a net loss of $10.9m for Q2 2020. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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GamingMalta has extended its partnership with esports tournament organiser ESL. 

The collaboration will see Malta continue to act as an official partner of ESL for Season 12, before physically hosting the entire ESL Pro League in 2021. 

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, ESL Pro League is currently being hosted online across all regions; Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania. 

Discussing the news Co-CEO of ESL, Ralf Reichert, said:

“The agreement with GamingMalta enables us to offer an amazing setting to the worldwide esports community. Malta is a progressive country with its finger on the digital pulse combined with a beautiful Mediterranean ambient which partnered with us for a phenomenal 11th season of the world’s largest professional esports league in CS:GO. We couldn’t be more excited for this partnership to bring the growth of esports and beauty even more together.”

While Chief Operations Officer at GamingMalta, Ivan Filletti, added:

“Our collaboration with ESL is a milestone in Malta’s esports journey since hosting the ESL Pro League immediately positions Malta as a premier esports destination. The mutual goal is to further establish professional structures in Malta and enhance educational initiatives aimed at fostering sustainable growth of the local esports ecosystem.”

GamingMalta is a non-profit foundation established by the Maltese government, with the aim of turning Malta, which is already an iGaming and tech hub, into “the new home for esports business and professionals.”

AYO.NEWS says:

As a Malta-based company, we’re thrilled to see GamingMalta has secured an extension to this flagship collaboration – which will go a long way to helping the foundation achieve its aims. 

However, a world of caution should be sounded. Despite Malta almost eliminating COVID-19 at one point, the country is now seeing a resurgence, and now has one of the highest infection rates in Europe. This has led many countries to place restrictions or bans on travel to the country.

So, any hopes of hosting international in-person events, may have to be put on the backburner for the foreseeable future. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Global sports business agency SPORTFIVE, a Lagardère Group subsidiary, has launched a new international esports unit.  

Though SPORTFIVE set up a dedicated esports department four years ago, as part of its German arm, under Mortiz Altman’s initiative, the company says the formation of a distinct global esports division is the next logical step, in line with its recent restructuring to focus on global growth areas. 

Moritz Altmann will serve as vice president global esports, and lead business development and marketing & rights-holder operations for esports. He will be supported by Thomas Ottl, who will be responsible for global operations on the rights-holder side, and collaboration with Riot Games, including the League of Legends European Championship (LEC). Eike Gyllensvärd will be serving as the division’s executive vice president esports partnerships. 

SPORTFIVE’s esports portfolio includes advisory, sales, and activation for KitKat and Warner in the LEC, esport organisation T1’s deals with Nike and BMW, SK Gaming’s partnership with Joop!, and the Prime League’s agreement with Levi’s. 

Regarding traditional sports, SPORTFIVE was recently appointed to handle international media rights sales for Portugal’s Primeira Liga for the 2020/21 to 2022/23 seasons.

AYO.NEWS says:

With the popularity of esports positively exploding, helped in no small part by the COVID-19 lockdowns, sports business, marketing, and talent agencies around the world are doubling down on their efforts to target the lucrative sector. 

Earlier this week ReKTGlobal, the parent company of Rogue and London Royal Ravens, acquired New York-based agency Fearless Media. Last week, high-profile international modelling and talent agency Ford Models launched an esports and gaming division, while in July VaynerSports, the sports agency founded by brothers Gary and AJ Vaynerchuck, launched a gaming and esports division. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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UK-based esports apparel brand Raven has secured a merchandise license for Call of Duty League.

Raven will be authorised to design, manufacture, and sell apparel featuring Call of Duty League’s official logo, along with those of the franchised teams.

The first line to be released will be a limited run of mech for the Call of Duty Championship Weekend. The shirts will feature the logos of all 12 teams on the back, and the Call of Duty trophy on the front.

Beyond that, Raven will be creating unique collections for each team in the league.

Commenting on the deal Managing Director of Raven, Sam Wells, said:

“We are delighted to announce Raven as an official merchandise licensee of the Call of Duty League. The Call of Duty League Championship t-shirt is a glimpse of what we have in store and we’re excited to show fans what is planned for the future.”

Call of Duty previously had a partnership with lifestyle apparel brand ULT – which also works with Overwatch League, and created the Night Shift collection.

Individual Call of Duty League teams also have their own apparel partnerships, with ReKTGlobal’s appropriately named London Royal Ravens already having a deal in place with Raven.

Raven, which was founded in 2013, also has partnerships with organisations including DarkZero, Excel Esports, Rogue, Tribe Gaming, Nova Esports, NSE, Belong, the British Esports Association, and US collegiate esports.

AYO.NEWS says:

Apparel and merchandise is increasingly important for esports leagues and teams looking to drive fan engagement and improve monetisation. Some esports organisations, like Gen.G, are even taking things to the next level, and bringing internationally renowned fashion designers and artists onboard.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates.

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UK-based esports fan engagement platform Espo has partnered with F2K, Godsent, and Queso. 

The collaboration with three world-class esports teams will involve a series of 30-day campaigns on the Espo platform, from its launch in September. 

Each campaign will focus on a player or roster of players representing one of the teams, and offer unique perks and rewards to fans who financially contribute.

Although Espo is keeping tight lipped over the specific range of perks that will be available via its platform, it has confirmed they will include experiences for fans to play against their idols, receive coaching, secure limited-edition team merchandise, and create content alongside staff from their favourite teams.

Fans can achieve perks using Espo loyalty points, which are earned through expenditure on the Espo platform and by participating in the Community Incentive Program that launched this month on the Espo website. 

Companies and brands will also be collaborating and offering special benefits to fans and financial support for teams and players via Espo’s campaign mechanism. 

Espo’s founders are well experienced in serving sponsors in the traditional sports sector, and believe companies and brands now need new ways to promote themselves to younger, digitally savvy audiences with ingenuity, relatability, and authenticity. 

Discussing the team partnerships Espo founder and CEO, Henry James, said:

“After unveiling our company and announcing our fan engagement platform for the esports community back in June, we’re extremely excited to be partnering with such outstanding teams.  Believing in our vision to bring esports fans to the heart of the action is one thing, but receiving the level of support from the guys at F2K, Godsent and Team Queso has been very humbling.

“We’re in awe of their creativity and commitment to their fans.  They’ve inspired us to keep raising the bar and we’ll be doing all we can to make the launch of our platform a success for all involved.”

The teams involved in the partnership are clearly positive about Espo’s potential, with F2K co-founder and managing director, Tim Bergman, saying:

“We are excited to be working with Espo, bringing the F2K Gaming brand to a broader, international consumer base.  This partnership will also further our growth for the team, securing key partnerships with future endemic and non-endemic partners.”

While Godsent co-founder and CEO, Henrik Denebrandt, commented:

“We are happy to get started with Espo’s platform and work closely with the experienced team behind it.  For GODSENT and our fast-paced international expansion, this is a key partnership for us that will enable further growth with endemic and non-endemic partners worldwide.”

And, Team Queso co-founder and CEO, Álvaro “Alvaro845” González, adding:

“We are thrilled to start working with Espo’s new platform along with other leading teams like Godsent and F2K.  This is an important step for Team Queso’s international scope and we are eager to start!”

(Images credit: Espo)

AYO.NEWS says:

Though some major esports organisations, like Team Liquid and Fnatic, are developing their own native fan engagement platforms, a growing range of compelling third-party platforms are now available – each taking a slightly different approach. 

Socios.com from Malta-based Chiliz is a blockchain-based platform allowing fans to buy tokens, which they can then use to secure perks and benefits, including voting rights. Critically, these tokens can also be traded on a marketplace, adding an investment angle. So far, Socios.com has been concentrating on signing up major European football clubs, but earlier this week added its second esports organisation, in the form of Team Heretics.

Another third-party solution is Swiss blockchain-based mobile app Blocksport. This drives fan engagement by enabling fans to securely vote, with eligibility managed by loyalty level, and delivers rewards and benefits for defined behaviours. It has been adopted by esports organisations including FURIA, Team Singularity, and BIG.  

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020