Sponsorship: The Defining trait of an Esports Team

Teams, players and organizations, they evaluate a team based on the number of sponsors that team has acquired. More commonly than not, there are professional team that are ignored from tournaments and events because they lack a brand image. Likewise, if they are not supported by company, then why should we believe

in them to invite them to our championships. It’s been an issue since the start of esports, those with lots of sponsors, get more sponsors, and those starting teams struggle to get on their feet. I have seen many professional esports teams work hard only to constantly be rejected regardless of what they put forward and unfortunately that’s part of the game. Acquiring sponsors, is the mining, that although is tedious, allows you to build later in the game. Here are the three main disasters I have seen as I have helped teams and organizations garner sponsors in the past:

STEP 1: NEVER, NEVER ASSUME THE OTHER PARTY UNDERSTANDS THE GAME

Unfortunately, more often than not the other party on the end of your application isn’t a gamer. Many teams are likely to list results their team has achieved and fail to provide any of the necessary background. Perhaps, you placed 1st in an EU Dota tournament. When applying to a company, DO NOT WRITE THAT. Rather go along the lines of: In a competition of 120 different teams competing on a live-stream to 5000 gamers we placed first, fighting off notable competitors such as xyz. The casters even argued that “ [our team] is no longer an underdog but a force to be reckoned”. Although, this may not be the case for your team, the point still stands. DETAILS are what changes an achievement into them having a need to sponsor your team. This leads us into my second point:

STEP 2: RESULTS THEN SPONSORS.

Too many teams I have discussed potential opportunities with are concerned about sponsors when they shouldn’t be. Companies only sponsor under 2 circumstances: You have high twitch viewership, and/or you have extraordinary achievement, there is no exception. It’s the circle of esports as I like to call it. As you achieve placements, the more sponsors that will accept your proposals. Unfortunately, too many teams come to companies with the promise of success, but little team achievement to back that up and as a result the sponsors don’t give the team a moment worth of thought.

STEP 3: LACK OF CONNECTIONS

As I tell all my clients, esports is an industry where your success is dependant on whether or not your competitors will be successful. You cannot and should not have a monopoly on a game and as a result, you should not treat it that way. Work with your competitors, whether that be clan games, custom games, streamed 1v1’s make your success a correlated relationship. There are 100’s of esports skype and discord servers that now exist for esports gaming managers. Make a friend, make a connection, and use that connection to get you your next sponsor. Note: That the connection may very well be the sponsor himself.

If you are interested in any of our services or would be interested to join one of the skype or discord servers to develop connections, feel free to email us at theomistocles.consulting@gmail.com