It’s been a busy week in the business world of esports, with Riot Games signing a partnership worth a minimum of $300million (~£245million), Team Dignitas releasing their CS:GO roster that looks set to be picked up by F.C. Copenhagen and the Professional Esports Association (“PEA”) causing major controversy.
Riot partner with BAMTech
Arguably the biggest story, at least commercially this week is news that Riot Games, the publisher of the world’s largest esports title League of Legends have established a long-term partnership with BAMTech a subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media.
The deal is reported to be worth a guaranteed minimum of $50million (~£40.3m) per annum and will run initially through to the 2023 season.
The statement on their website states:
“Beginning next year, we’ll also be collaborating to push the boundaries of the esports viewing experience, leveraging BAMTech’s best-in-class technology to create additional possibilities and opportunities for fans to access, and connect with, League of Legends.”
The partnership will also help League of Legends attract non-endemic sponsors and the statement suggests that it will help “grow our revenue […] through various means, including sponsorship and advertising”.
Read the full article here.
F.C. Copenhagen set to enter esports with acquisition of released Dignitas CS:GO roster
Although it has not yet been made official, it’s been reported this week that F.C. Copenhagen are set to enter esports with the acquisition of the Team Dignitas CS:GO roster.
The roster is one of the top tier teams, and are set to compete at the ELEAGUE Major which gets underway towards the end of January 2017. According to speculation, the football club are also interested in entering the Dota 2 scene as well as the FIFA scene although no details have been revealed just yet.
Paris Saint-Germain have really set the standards for a big entrance in esports so it’ll be interesting to see how the Danish club approach it – as they clearly have big plans.
Read the full article here.
Professional Esports Association causes huge controversy that looks set to rumble on
This is not the first nor the last we’re going to hear about the “PEA” and the fallout because of it. An open letter was published by Scott “SirScoots” Smith with signatures of players on the rosters of Cloud9, CLG, Team Liquid and Team SoloMid all featured.
The letter addresses the PEA and the fact that players are a minority in an association that was supposedly setup to give the players an authoritative voice in the scene. The letter addresses the PEA’s decision to stop players competing in the ESL Pro League and the fact that the players feel that they’re not fairly represented.
It’s already resulted in one team cutting a player for his involvement in the open letter with TSM’s Sean “seang@res” Gares being removed from the TSM roster with the founder Andy “Reginald” Dinh accusing Sean of tarnishing the brand.
With the players standing up for themselves against organisations and leagues, this drama looks set to roll on – we highly doubt that we’ve heard the last of it.
Read the first article here.
Read the second article here.