The LCS started its Summer Split playoffs earlier in August. And in the process, the league unveiled a new multiyear sponsorship deal with Buffalo Wild Wings as its official sports bar, Riot Games announced.
As a part of the deal, Buffalo Wild Wings will help livestream LCS action and promote its wings across LCS broadcasts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was the exact length of the multi-year contract.
The partnership comes at a unique time for Buffalo Wild Wings since social distancing guidelines in the U.S. have stymied restaurants across the country.
This isn’t the first time Buffalo Wild Wings has worked with an esports partner before, though. In 2016, the wing chain worked with Turner’s ELEAGUE.
Earlier this year, Riot announced Caffeine as the newest official streaming partner for the North American LCS. The partnership isn’t exclusive though, so the LCS will still be broadcast on Riot Games’ official Twitch accounts as well.
LCS fans and amateur shoutcasters will be able to stream and live host the official LCS broadcast on their own channels. This collaboration will last through the remainder of the LCS Summer Split, the playoffs, finals, and the LCS Regional Qualifiers.
“Our platform will deliver these matches with almost no latency, allowing fans to watch as if they were there, while also offering aspiring shoutcasters the ability to live host their own streams of the event and interact with fans in real time,” Caffeine founder and CEO Ben Keighran said.
Matt Archambault, Riot’s head of esports partnerships and business development for North America, explained some of the reasons for the partnership, saying that there has been “demand from our community around new streaming platforms.”
The brand joins a plethora of sponsors for the LCS, including insurer State Farm, Alienware, gaming chair company Secretlab, Rocket Mortgage, car manufacturer Honda, and Mastercard.
It’s great to see multiple popular brands partnering with LCS and make it more mainstream for the more people. As the esports scene grows, there will be a plateau of players unless such brands are signed to promote it to other audience as well. Riot has been stepping up a lot lately with such signing and partnerships, ensuring the ecosystem keeps growing for the future.
Stay tuned for more sponsorships coverage as the World Championship period gets closer and more organizations want a piece of the pie which is esports right now.
