Riot Games signed a multiyear deal with gaming chair brand Secretlab to sponsor League of Legends, according to Max Miceli of THE ESPORTS OBSERVER. As a part of the deal, Secretlab will become the gaming chair for the North American LoL Championship Series, Mid-Season Invitational, All-Star Event, and World Championship. Additionally, Secretlab will become the first global partner to sell official chairs for LCS and LoL events (TEO, 1/25).
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ELSEWHERE IN ESPORTS: TEO's Trent Murray reported Team Liquid announced a partnership with Honda, which will become the team’s official automotive sponsor. To kick off the partnership, Team Liquid’s LoL team will arrive at its first match of the LCS in a TL-branded Honda Odyssey minivan. Team Liquid will also be given access to a fleet of branded Civics. The partnership was brokered by Twitch. Financial terms were not disclosed. Honda will have its logo featured on Team Liquid’s jerseys, and will collaborate with the organization on a new content series focused on its LoL, Fortnite and Dota 2 rosters (TEO, 1/24).
TEO's Hongyu Chen reported ESL partnered with Chinese livestreaming platforms Huya and Huomao. Financial terms and the duration of the deal were not disclosed. A part of the deal, which "only mentioned the partnership between Huomao and ESL," was first reported by Huomao on Jan. 9, but the company "quietly deleted the announcement a day later." According to the announcement, ESL aims to "increase its brand identity in China." Huya and Huomao will equally share the media rights of ESL events in '19, including ESL One series, IEM, and CS:GO Pro League (TEO, 1/24).
