Riot Games announced Monday that seasoned sports sponsorship executive David Mulhall has been promoted to the role of global head of esports partnerships and business development. The announcement was made public by Riot Games Esports President John Needham this morning.
In his new role, Mulhall will lead a “global team” dedicated to bringing in new brands to the Riot esports ecosystem both regionally, and globally. He will also be charged with continuing to foster existing partner relationships in League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports), Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), and Teamfight Tactics Esports (TFT Esports).
“In four years as a rising leader at Riot Games, David has been forging longstanding partnerships with premier brands that have supported our efforts to deliver groundbreaking esports events to fans worldwide,” said John Needham, president of esports for Riot Games. “We’re more focused than ever on creating opportunities for partners that deliver great value and improve the player experience watching esports. David’s deep understanding and passion for our various esports communities is critical to successfully integrating partners into our broadcasts and events.”
“David is an extremely smart and strategic executive, with a proven track record of ideating and executing precedent-setting sponsorship opportunities worldwide,” said Paul Danforth, CAA board member and president of CAA Sports. “He works at the intersection of innovation and scale, creating meaningful partnerships that can be activated globally to enhance the player and fan experience.”
Mulhall joined Riot in 2020, with a focus on securing partnerships and sponsorships for Valorant. With the help of Mulhall’s leadership, Riot has “renewed, expanded and secured global partnership deals generating revenue of hundreds of millions with notable brands including Mastercard, Red Bull, AWS, and most recently HP and their gaming brands OMEN and HyperX.” Mulhall also oversees Riot’s relationship with CAA Sports, which has served as its agency for global partnerships since 2015. Prior to joining the company, Mulhall spent three years as the director of corporate partnerships for NBA team the Sacramento Kings and its NBA 2K esports team, the Kings Guard.
Prior to his time at the Sacramento Kings, Mulhall held executive roles at Wests Tigers Rugby League Football, Supercars, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He is also a former professional rugby player, serving such clubs as Souths Magpies, Auckland Warriors, Newtown Jets, Wests Tigers, and Toulouse, among others.