Premier League club and US gaming organisation to help each other boost reach into new markets.
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- Evil Geniuses valued at US$255m after investment from Wolves owner Fosun Sports Group
- Wolves to support Evil Geniuses’ expansion into Asia
- Club also secures branding on esports organisation’s team uniforms
English top-flight soccer club Wolverhampton Wanderers and US esports organisation Evil Geniuses have teamed up to support their reach into new geographic markets.
The partnership comes off the back of Wolves owner, China-based Fosun Sports Group, agreeing to make an investment into Evil Geniuses, which values the organisation at US$255 million.
The esports outfit, which was founded in 1999, currently competes in the likes of League of Legends (LoL), Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Valorant. With a roaster featuring players from the Americas, Asia and Europa, Evil Geniuses says its content reached more than 42 million people last season.
The initial partnership between the pair will see Wolves branding featured on Evil Geniuses’ uniforms, with the Evil Geniuses logo to feature a splash of gold during the launch in a nod to Wolves’ main club colour.
In return, Wolves’ Chinese team will help support Evil Geniuses expansion into the Asian market, which the Premier League club says has a market size of approximately CH¥150 billion (US$23.2 billion) in 2021.
In addition to supporting the creation of local Mandarin content, Wolves will provide Evil Geniuses with training facilities in China. This includes a training base for the LoL World Championship, should the team qualify for the event in Shenzhen later this year.
Both teams will also work together to create English language content, sponsorship opportunities and joint branded merchandise which will be shared with fans in the coming months.
“This is an incredibly exciting partnership for Wolves and Wolves Esports. We have very lofty ambitions in esports, and this partnership allows us to learn from the very best”, said Russell Jones, Wolves’ general manager of marketing and commercial growth.
“We’ll be pooling resources across analysis and performance as well as marketing and commercial to service and grow both organisations. We are looking forward to working together on a number of fan engagement initiatives over the next few months and when travel routes allow, we will be encouraging our teams to visit and learn from their respective colleagues.”
Nicole LaPointe Jameson, Evil Geniuses’ chief executive, added: “We are thrilled to partner with Wolves, a storied football club and strong sports and entertainment brand that aligns with our values and mission.
“This deal will help power Evil Geniuses’ expansion into the Asian markets while also providing new capital to sign more world-class players and grow into new esports titles.”
The tie-up further strengthens Wolves’ ties in the competitive gaming space. As well as launching its own esports tournament portal in March last year, the club already competes in the likes of FIFA, Rocket League and Call of Duty (COD) Mobile.
Speaking to SportsPro in June 2020, Jones said esports would continue to play a significant role in Wolves’ brand building efforts in international markets such as China.
“Wolves are very fortunate that they’ve got a chairman [Jeff Shi] that gets esports,” Jones said.
“He understands the opportunity within the industry and he genuinely believes, as do we as a football club, that our esports pillar can be bigger than the football club.”
