LaLiga Builds eSports Success On Partnerships

Despite being one of the world’s newest spectator sports, eSports already has an enviable global following.

Indeed, according to Goldman Sachs, the audience is already larger than for Major League Baseball.

In Spain, the second season of the Virtual LaLiga eSports Santander competition highlighted just how big the phenomenon is. After six months of the official FIFA 19 tournament, participation, sponsorship and viewing figures proved how mainstream the sport has already become.

In total 13,000 players took part in this season’s competition, completing 9,207 matches. Their games were watched by more than 2.8 million viewers across all platforms, including Twitch, Facebook, LaLigaSportsTV, LaLiga.es and UBEAT.tv. An audience of 700,000 alone watched the grand final in Madrid, which was ultimately won by Jaime Álvarez, known in the world of eSports as Gravesen.

LaLiga and FIFA 19 publisher Electronic Arts (EA) have worked with Banco Santander as the league’s main sponsor.

Orange, Allianz, Visa, EVO2, Hyundai and the Global eSports Academy have also provided support throughout the season while the LVP (Professional Videogame League) is the producer of the league.

Read the whole story in Global Fútbol.