China Esports Weekly: Hyperice Named Special Partner of LPL, Jingdong Gaming Signs Two-Year Title Sponsorship With Intel
In the week leading up to the summer season, the temperature in China has begun to increase, as has esports business news across the country. Last week, the esports industry in China saw some new brands enter the scene, including the first automotive sponsor for Victory Five.
Under the backdrop of an international esports tournament, Dota 2’s The International (TI), four Chinese teams – Invictus Gaming, Team Aster, Vici Gaming and PSG.LGD – have all qualified for the 10th edition of TI, where they will vie for over $40 million dollars in prize money.
In addition, Riot Games and TJ Sports have confirmed that the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) will provide “four qualifying slots” for this year’s World Championship in Shenzhen, due to Royal Never Give-Up’s (RNG) victory at the Mid-Season Invitational.
Among the top stories: Jingdong Gaming signed a two-year title sponsorship deal with Intel while Suning Gaming secured sponsored by HP; the US sports fitness company Hyperice became the special partner of the LPL; domestic car manufacturer BYD Auto signed a sponsorship deal with Shenzhen-based LPL team Victory Five; and finally, energy drink brand Monster Energy signed a sponsorship deal with TOP Esports.
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Hyperice Sponsors LPL as Special Partner
Chinese League of Legends operator TJ Sports announced on Monday that the company has signed a sponsorship deal with US sports fitness company Hyperice. The brand will become LPL’s special partner, alongside Chinese recruitment network Liepin, hardware company Razer, gaming chair brand AutoFull and Intel.
Hyperice is also the recovery technology sponsor of NBA team Los Angeles Lakers and the National Football League (NFL).
The partnership kicked off the first day of the 2021 LPL Summer Split and will support 17 LPL teams by providing Hyperice’s award-winning recovery technologies. According to the agreement, Hyperice will also set up a custom “recovery room” in Shanghai’s Hongqiao District to design physical training and recovery programs for LPL players’ health and mobility.
“By bringing Hyperice’s revolutionary recovery technology into LPL play, we expect this partnership to spread more broadly into athlete recovery than traditional sports. By focusing on player health, our goal is to extend their professional careers and help to bring their gameplay to the next level,” said Philip So, Vice President of TJ Sports and Head of Esports and Business Development at Riot Games China.
In addition, TJ Sports announced the general partner list of the LPL Summer Split, including chief partner Mercedes-Benz, three strategic partners Nike, diary Momchilovtsi and Harbin Brewery, as well as nine official partners: Legion, Mobil Super, TCL, Wahaha, KFC, Warhorse, OPPO, Suning and TT Voice.
Jingdong Gaming Signs Two-Year Title Sponsorship With Intel, HP Sponsors Suning Gaming
Last week, two Chinese e-commerce platform-owned LPL teams – Jingdong Gaming (JDG) and Suning Gaming – welcomed new sponsors, Intel and HP. For JD.com’s esports division JDG, its League of Legends squad signed a two-year title sponsorship deal with Intel Corporation, and rebranded to “JDG Intel Esports Club”.
In May, JDG’s Peacekeeper Elite team JDE signed a similar title sponsorship deal with Qualcomm Snapdragon, and rebranded to “JDE Snapdragon”. It appears that JDG enjoys a strong bond with the US microchip brand.
In addition, Intel is one of the official partners of LPL, while Snapdragon is one of the three strategic partners for Peace Elite League (PEL), alongside energy drink Warhorse and automobile company Buick.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but US esports organization TSM announced last Friday that it signed a 10-year, $210 million title sponsorship deal with cryptocurrency exchange company FTX, and rebranded to TSM FTX.
For Suning.com’s Suning Gaming (SN), its LPL division also signed a sponsorship deal with US laptop brand Hewlett Packard (HP). The HP logo will be featured on the right shoulder of SN’s team jerseys.
The deal aimed to promote HP’s new gaming laptop brand Victus. The HP Victus 7, featuring an Intel i7 11800H and RTX3060 6GB graphic card, is up for sale at 7,699 yuan ($989) on Suning.com.
Both SN and JDG Intel Esports Club have performed well in China’s League of Legends competitions. JDG won the 2020 LPL Spring Split and SN took second place at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, the biggest esports event in 2020.
Other Esports Business News:
On June 4, Shenzhen-based esports organization Victory Five (V5) announced that the company signed a sponsorship deal with Shenzhen-based car company BYD Auto for its LPL team. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sponsorship is aimed at the upcoming League of Legends World Championship on November 6 in Shenzhen.
On June 4, Chinese esports organization TOP Esports (TES) signed a sponsorship deal with energy drink brand Monster Energy. The sponsor logo will be featured on the left shoulder of TES’s team jerseys. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
On June 4, the Chinese Dota 2 team Team Aster (TA) announced that it signed a sponsorship deal with gaming chair brand DxRacer. This is the first sponsorship deal for Dota 2 teams this year.
