Riot Games Names Mercedes-Benz as Exclusive Automotive Partner for League of Legends Esports
On Sept. 21, League of Legends developer Riot Games announced on its media day broadcast that global automotive brand Mercedes-Benz has become the exclusive automotive partner of League of Legends esports for the next several years.
In this multi-year partnership deal, Mercedes-Benz will become a global partner for Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), All-Starts, and the League of Legends World Championship, including the upcoming 2020 edition of the event.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz will serve as the presenting sponsor for the trophy ceremony at the In addition, Mercedes-Benz will serve as the presenting sponsor for the trophy ceremony at the international events. The brand logo will also be featured on the in-game banners. Mercedes-Benz confirmed that it will develop branded content, dedicated commercials, advertisement artwork, and digital content on social media during those international events.
“As a company that has a deep understanding of the passion within the League of Legends community, Mercedes-Benz is the first automotive brand to fully embrace the esports world on a global scale,” Naz Aletaha, head of global esports partnerships at Riot Games, stated in the release.
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In China’s esports industry, Mercedes-Benz is also the only chief partner of the country’s top League of Legends competition, League of Legends Pro League (LPL), and used to be the official Chinese partner for the past three years of Worlds. According to the League of Legends China White Paper, released by TJ Sports, a joint venture of Tencent and Riot Games in 2019, Mercedes-Benz received approximately 600 million yuan ($88.5 million) in media value, acting as the official Chinese partner of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship.
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds 2020) will start on Sept. 25. Last week, all 18 overseas League of Legends teams who will compete for this event arrived in Shanghai and started their 14-day COVID-19 quarantine. In all 22 participating teams, six teams have five automotive sponsors, including FAW-Audi (Chinese TOP Esports), Mercedes-Benz (South Korean Gen.G Esports), KIA (North American Rogue), Honda (North American Team Liquid), and BMW (European Fnatic and G2 Esports).
