Esports Entertainment Group has inked another deal with a professional sports team.
The esports and online gambling operator Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) has inked a marketing partnership with the National Hockey League’s (NHL) New York Rangers.
This comes after the operator completed its acquisitions of Helix eSports and ggCircuit earlier this month.
What’s covered in the deal?
Under the agreement, EEG will become the Rangers’ official esports tournament provider from the start of July.
The agreement will also see EEG operate three Rangers-themed esports tournaments using its Esports Gaming League brand and platform.
Both EEG and the Rangers will also collaborate to create video content to promote the tournament’s across the team’s digital platforms.
Dan Fleeter, Vice President, Business Operations, MSG Sports Corp said: “Over the last few years, we’ve hosted dozens of amateur esports tournaments with our esports organization CLG, which have been incredibly well received and we can’t wait to expand on this with the Rangers.
“We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship with EEG and believe this is a wonderful opportunity to engage with an audience interested in hockey and gaming.”
Grant Johnson, CEO of EEG said: “We are thrilled to welcome another leading professional sports team to our tournament platform. We look forward to working with the Rangers as they extend their brand into the rapidly growing world of esports.”
Magnus Leppäniemi, President of Esports at EEG added: “We are quickly becoming the industry standard tournament platform for professional sports, as teams recognize the strength of our platform and its ability to meet the demanding needs of large-scale deployments. We look forward to helping the Rangers achieve their goals in this exciting new arena.”
What else has Esports Entertainment been up to?
The deal with the Rangers marks EEG’s latest effort to expand its presence in the US.
In early June, EEG announced it had completed its $43m acquisitions of ggCircuit and Helix eSports which were first announced in October 2020 and then approved in January this year.
According to the operator, the two deals will significantly strengthen its “Play, Watch, Bet” strategy with the addition of state-of-the-art esports entertainment venues, an esports-focused software business, an esports analytics platform and a P2P skill-based betting product.
Last month, EEG also revealed plans to acquire the Malta-based online operator Bethard.
EEG has agreed on a deal with Bethard’s parent company Gameday Group that will see the esports giant pay €16m in cash and a guarantee of 12% of net gaming revenue performance over a two-year period for Bethard.
EEG expects the deal to close on 1 July 2021 and has updated its 2022 revenue guidance to the $100m-$105m range.
