LONDON: Lagardère Sports, one of the world’s leading sports marketing agency, announced Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year partnership with Riot Games, the owner of the hot-selling eSports property, the League of Legends European Championship (LEC). The strategic partnership is centered around the commercialisation of the newly established LEC, the official governing body for the League of Legends competition in Europe.
The long-term agreement will see the League of Legends European Championship and Lagardère Sports collaborate in multiple areas to further develop eSports in Europe. This collaboration between a sports marketing agency with a publisher operated eSports league is a major validation of the LEC’s commitment to professionalize eSports and establish a contemporary, structured and sustainable environment for their professional players and teams.
Lagardère Sports will act as the exclusive sponsorship agency for the LEC. In this role, the sports marketing agency will leverage the long-term knowledge in sports sponsorship consulting and activation to conceptualise and establish long-term partnerships between endemic and non-endemic brands and the LEC.
“Riot Games has always been a pioneer in eSports, and our rebranded League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is one of the leading eSports leagues in the world that offers brands the best possible opportunities to enter Ssports,” Riot Games Europe head of sponsorships and business development Alban Dechelotte said.
“This partnership will see us working hand in hand with Lagardère Sports to enter the next level of brand partnerships in European esports.”
By working closely together with the LEC, Lagardère Sports will be able to further transfer its knowledge into eSports and establish the agency’s role as a key player within the business of eSports.
“With 100 million active players, League of Legends is one of the leading game titles in the world while Riot Games is one of the leading game publishers globally and a true visionary in eSports.” Lagardère Sports Germany MD Robert Müller said.
“The partnership with the League of Legends European Championship is truly a milestone in our endeavours to establish Lagardère Sports as the leading sports marketing agency in eSports in Europe. We have been an integral part of the professionalisation in sports for more than two decades. For the past two years we have been transferring this knowledge into eSports and we are very much looking forward to taking this to the next level. As the exclusive sponsorship agency for the LEC, we are the go-to platform for League of Legends eSports partnerships in Europe. We identified eSports as one of our key drivers for the future and we will certainly do more in this exciting environment of new sports.”
“League of Legends fans tend to be young, digital, and innovative and therefore very much interesting for numerous premium brands and advertisers. The LEC creates for the first time in Europe a sustainable, and plannable eSports ecosystem around a video gaming title that will very much take away a lot of questions marks that brands might have in the past when thinking about entering eSports. We are convinced that the LEC offers the best structured eco-system for brands and companies for successful sponsorships in eSports in Europe. We are even more excited that we will be able to announce numerous partnerships for the upcoming season starting on 18th of January”, Lagardere Sports director of eSports Moritz Altmann added.
As part of the partnership, Lagardère Sports will launch a microsite informing about the agency’s eSports activities and the sponsorship opportunities at the LEC. Within the next few days, Riot Games EU and Lagardère Sports will be able to announce several brand partnerships for the LEC that will further underline the joined ambition to establish the LEC as the leading eSports league in Europe.
