As one of the most promising growth markets in the sports sponsorship industry, which is not recognized in Germany as a Sport: E-sports. The business with the computer game competition excites investors and sponsors with revenue projections in the three-digit million range.

In Europe, the sector now faces a significant step in the direction of professionalization. The game maker Riot Games launches for the successful E-sports title, League of Legends top League in the Franchise model. With Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04.

League of Legends is an online game in which two Teams of five players (mostly players) compete against each other. The game field is divided into two halves, the teams settle each one of them. The goal is to destroy the retreat of the enemy team in the other half. the

Many try it, many will remain

Ten teams organize themselves starting in 2019, a license model. In North America this System for League of Legends was introduced to the current season. Riot had announced in March of the appropriate League in Europe, now the Details and the participating teams were known. “Our approach is the Franchise System, in which the Teams enter into a long-term business partnership with Riot,” says Marc Quickly, the chief of the European League-management at Riot Games.

Each of the participants acquires five years of the start of the European League of Legends European Championship (LEC). For the license, the Teams, the market numbers, according to observers, tens of millions of Euro with a discount for the teams that were already in the since 2013, the existing predecessor League, the European League of Legends Champion Series (EU LCS).

The U.S. company Riot Games a good experience with the Franchise has collected-operation. The most prominent Investor in the United States, the basketball legend Michael Jordan. One of the partners of the Chinese Internet giant Tencent.

market, according to observers, the annual turnover of the provider with League of Legends at around two billion dollars. The last official user numbers are from the year 2016, there was talk of a monthly 100 million active players. Meanwhile, it should be between 80 and 90 million, around 27 million every day. The game is one of the most successful online titles at all. The strategy game is riot’s only product. the The business model: Users spend money for optical adjustments to the game characters, on the success of the has no impact.

In the case of the young audience the game is good, the entry threshold is low. Many try it, many will remain. The path to Full-time professionals with salaries of up to 320,000 dollars a year is a long one. But it will be in the future, there is only room for the Best.