Brands

LPL 2023: New Logo, Partners, and NIP Enters the Fray

Published by

Hongyu Chen

1 year ago

Credit: TJ Sports

Chinese League of Legends Pro League operator TJ Sports revealed Monday its new logo and 14 league sponsors for the start of the 2023 season. The new logo is inspired by/celebrates the LPL 10-year anniversary with the number “10” as the logo background.

The sponsors and partners include chief partner Mercedes-Benz; strategic partners apparel brand Li-Ning, e-commerce company Jing Dong, and dairy brand Momchilovtsi; official partners Exxon Mobil, chat service TT Voice, smartphone maker OnePlus, energy drink company Warhorse, spring water brand Wahaha, electronics company TCL, Chinese online travel agency Tong Cheng, laptop brand Lenovo Legion; and special partners Intel and gaming chair maker TGIF.

It should be noted that the U.S. fast food restaurant chain KFC (owned by Yum! Brands) is not on the partner list; KFC and TJ Sports did not renew the long-term partnership between the brand and LPL. TEA has reached out to TJ Sports for confirmation and will update this story when more information becomes available. The partnership between KFC and LPL initially began in 2018 after LPL turned into a franchise league.

As previously reported by TEA, the four-year exclusive apparel sponsorship between Nike and LPL ended in 2022, with Chinese apparel company Li-Ning replacing Nike as the new apparel partner and LPL’s strategic partner.

In addition, TEA also noticed that LPL team Victory Five (V5) has been renamed to Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) on LPL’s official website. V5 is the League of Legends division of Chinese esports company Estar Victory Five (ESV5), a joint venture of eStar Gaming and Victory Five based in Wuhan. In 2021, the Sweden-based esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas merged with ESV5, so it appears that the name change is part of the merger and NIP has officially entered the LPL.

Hongyu Chen

Hongyu "Eddie" Chen serves as conduit from China to the rest of global esports scene as the only Chinese journalist living in China while writing for Western media outlets. For the last four years Eddie served as the China esports correspondent for The Esports Observer and Sports Business Journal. He is a bilingual graduate of MA Business and Marketing and a certified BEng Electronic and Communication Engineer.