April saw a major flurry of activity in the Esports world from hosting to funding to hardware deals, here’s a few highlights.

  • If there was any bigger indicator of the growth in Esports, production and tournament outfit BLAST has signed up with the The Sports Consultancy to work together on finding host cities for the BLAST 2023 season. TSC have an impressive background in events management with World Rugby and Formula One amongst their client roster.

  • League of Legends publisher, Riot Games has signed a 5-year deal with bankers Santander for their Brazilian official League of Legends scene. You can expect to see their logo plastered all over the Mid-Season invitational and League of Legends World Championship.
  • Crypto giants FTX signed up with Brazilian outfit Furia as their newest sponsor with a one-year contract inked for a cool $3.2m with a view to building out a long term relationship.

 

  • Tournament runners, ESL has expanded their ‘big data’ deal with US based BI experts Nielsen to expand and improve their tracking data across more events. They will cover the ESL CS:GO Pro Tour, ESL’s Dota 2 events as well as its whole mobile esports operation.
  • Another crypto exchange platform Gate.io has announced a partnership, this one with UK based lifestyle brand, Quadrant. All the Quadrant team’s shirts during the HCS major in Kansas City this year.
  • Over in Southeast Asia, Talon Esports has announced a betting and game deal with Mansion to become main sponsor for their Dota 2 team. Mansion will feature on player kits, social outreach, and even in-game player names.
  • Peripheral/Hardware deals were flying thick and fast in April as well, most notably HyperX renewing its partnership as official peripheral supplier to Dignitas and media platform Radiant.