Exclusive: New Sponsorship Categories Being Considered for LoL Esports Teams

On Thursday, Riot Games announced major changes in how it will expand revenue sharing with tier-1 esports organizations competing in League of Legends Esports in its various global leagues including League of Legends Championship Series (LCS – North America)  League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC – Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK – South Korea). The League of Legends league for China (LPL, or League of Legends Pro League) is also negotiating separately new ways to expand revenue sharing for teams in the region as well.

But one of the more interesting aspects of Thursday’s announcement was what Riot Games President of Esports John Needham said about opening up sponsorship categories to allow for new opportunities for tier-1 LoL Esports teams:

“We want teams to succeed, and we’ve worked with them to help improve their cash position and refocus on long-term sustainability. For example, we’ve opened up new team sponsorship categories and adjusted our policies and competitive calendar to unlock more opportunities for teams and players to participate in additional third-party events, something players have been asking for.”

Sources close to the situation speaking on background told The Esports Advocate Thursday that the new categories being considered will be subject to regional acceptance and legal restrictions, but could include beer and wine products, Cannabidiol (CBD) products, and government-related entities—in fact, some of these categories are already open in regions where are they considered acceptable by the local population and legally accepted. 

For example, (and keep in mind, that we are speculating here) most gambling products are prohibited in China, but beer and wine categories are probably acceptable. In Europe, gambling sponsors are widely accepted in Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2,  but not in the Middle East. 

Government entities could include military, national sporting authorities, or even local governments. While our sources did not use the term “military” as a sponsorship category, government-related entities could include armed forces. Again, these are speculative examples on our part and not anything we have been told officially.

Riot may also open up other categories, according to sources, but specific details were not revealed to us. Sources outside of Riot familiar with the situation have claimed for months that gambling is a category that Riot would consider for League of Legends—and particularly Valorant—in the future. Given that Valorant is one of the most popular games when it comes to wagering, allowing this category of sponsorship for that game makes sense (but we have no confirmation at this time that gambling/wagering/betting products are being considered from our sources).

Our sources tell us that Riot is continuing to review gambling sponsorships but the category is complicated due to different regional regulations; while some countries have blanket regulatory frameworks for wagering/betting/gambling platforms, it gets trickier in North America and particularly in the U.S. where each state requires a license to operate. This suggests that gray market gambling platforms may have a hard time finding broad acceptance within the Riot esports sponsorship category.

Our sources also noted that crypto exchanges and blockchain tech companies have previously been opened up/allowed in some regions (Coinbase being one example), but given what happened with FTX collapsing and its effect on previous LCS and TSM’s team sponsorships, we would imagine that cryptocurrency is currently viewed with a great amount of caution (but we are speculating here).

Alcohol as a sponsorship category in Europe makes sense, given that non-alcoholic beer sponsorships in the LEC are already prevalent, so the transition to a full-blown beer or spirits sponsorship categories makes sense.

In the United States liquor and betting sponsorships are prolific in the NBA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, and many other professional sports leagues. Games still have the stigma of being considered “aimed at children,” but the average gamer is 18+ years old in the U.S. (and other regions), according to this Play Today report, which cites multiple sources of data. 

So why open up these new categories to teams? Well, for one they have been asking for this for a while, but as Needham pointed out, there is an appetite out there among brands to be involved (and some like Coinbase and Heineken are already in the mix). From Thursday’s announcement:

“In recent months, however, we’ve been happy to see the economy regain traction, bringing an uptick in sponsorship across the ecosystem. We’ve seen Progressive, Coinbase, and Honda,  among others, sponsor LoL Esports team organizations. In the first few months of 2024, we’ve welcomed new partners like HP’s Omen and HyperX, Uber, AT&T, Pagoda, and Heineken to our shared ecosystem.”

Ultimately, the goal of considering new categories is to give teams more options outside of what they might earn from the Riot-owned ecosystem to generate revenue and improve sustainability in the long term. It is something that many team owners have been asking for, and it shows that Riot is listening to its partners in the LoL Esports ecosystem.