International bank Ally Financial and Rocket League Esports announced Wednesday plans to expand and deepen its sponsorship deal with an added focus on offering more opportunities to women in esports.
Financial terms of this expansion were not disclosed.
Under the terms of this expanded deal, Ally, Raidiant, and Rocket League Esports will create and launch three women-only tournaments and a co-ed main event in 2024, with a total prize pool of $75K USD. These tournaments will “offer the brightest up-and-coming stars from North America and Europe quarterly competitions to crown the best team in each region,” according to a release.
The expanded sponsorship deal is part of Ally’s 2022 pledge to reach 50/50 media spend across men’s and women’s sports—which also includes esports.
The Rocket League-focused competition will be called “Star Chasers Showdown presented by Ally,” and will take place across the following key dates:
Star Chasers Showdown Series 1, presented by Ally
- Open Qualifier: April 7
- Main Event: April 13-14
Star Chasers Showdown Series 2, presented by Ally
- Open Qualifier: July 6
- Main Event: July 13-14
Star Chasers Showdown Series 3, presented by Ally
- Open Qualifier: Sept. 7
- Main Event: Sept. 28-29
Ally All Stars (co-ed)
- Open Qualifier: Nov. 1
- Main Event: Nov. 2-3
The competition will be facilitated by tournament organizer Raidiant—in coordination with BLAST, which secured a multi-year deal to operate esports for Rocket League and Fortnite esports with developer Epic Games and its subsidiary Psyonix earlier this year.
Ally first became a sponsor of the RLCS in February 2023. As part of the extended partnership in 2024, Ally will headline the Star Showdown Chasers tournament series and have branding across the RLCS North American Open Qualifiers, Copenhagen Major, London Major, and World Championship broadcasts. Ally will also be engaging in fan activations through the collaboration in a number of ways, including “regular giveaways of Rocket League in-game items throughout the year on their dedicated landing page.”