The South Korea division of Chinese hot pot chain Haidilao announced on Sunday that it had signed a partnership deal with esports organization T1 Entertainment & Sports’ (T1) League of Legends team.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The partnership includes T1 merchandise giveaways and gift cards at Haidilao Korea restaurants, social media engagement between T1 and Haidilao Korea Instagram accounts, as well as the right to use T1 League of Legends players images, including T1 iconic esports player and stakeholder Lee “Faker“ Sang-hyeok for promotion on Instagram. T1’s League of Legends division is currently completing the 2024 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds 2024) in Berlin.
Sources close to the deal told The Esports Advocate that one of the biggest reasons behind this partnership was because T1’s League of Legends players enjoy eating at Haidilao. The restaurant also provides “player’s favorite picks” as a promotion for some varieties of dishes.
Haidilao is one of the biggest international Chinese hotpot chains with over 1,300 restaurants in China, South Korea, the U.S., U.K., Canada, Singapore, Australia, and more. The company raised nearly $1B USD in a Hong Kong IPO. Though Haidilao is a Chinese brand hotpot, the company has not made too many steps into the Chinese esports industry, which makes T1 the first esports partnership for Haidilao.