Forbes: “Guild Esports, the young esports business co-owned by soccer legend David Beckham, has successfully completed its public market flotation on the London Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of £41.2 million ($52.3 million).”

“The transaction, led by joint brokers Zeus Capital and Mirabaud Securities, included an initial £20 million ($25.8 million) fundraise–a feat all the more impressive, considering Guild Esports only launched in June 2020.”

“The market listing means that Guild becomes the first esports franchise to join the LSE. The money raised by the company will be invested into branding, recruitment, and “scaling into various esports disciplines over the course of the 2020/21 season”, in games such as Rocket League, Fortnite, CS:GOand, unsurprisingly, FIFA. Guild also plans to continually raise revenues through tournament winnings, sponsorship, merchandise, events, digital marketing opportunities and more.”

Esports Insider: “Riot Games has established German automotive giant Mercedes-Benz as a global partner of League of Legends esports.”

“As well as serving as the presenting sponsor of the trophy ceremony at the major international events, Mercedes-Benz has been named the official exclusive automotive partner. It’ll develop branded content, dedicated commercials, ad artwork, and social media content around the events, according to a release.”

“Naz Aletaha, Head of Global Esports Partnerships at Riot Games, commented in a release: ‘Mercedes-Benz is the first luxury automotive brand to truly embrace esports at a global scale, while developing a deep understanding of the unrelenting passion fueling the game and the League of Legends esports community.'”

NME: “Streaming giant Spotify has announced an exclusive partnership with American video game company Riot Games’ popular MOBA League Of Legends.”

“Spotify announced its first-ever eSports partnership today (25 August) via its blog, and noted that it will serve as the exclusive ‘global audio service provider for League Of Legends‘.”

“Over the course of its multi-year partnership, Spotify and Riot Games will work together to launch a new League Of Legends eSports Music Hub on the streaming service, produce a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Worlds Anthem, develop various podcast series, and publish specially curated playlists.”

“The two companies will also launch a nine-episode podcast series titled Untold Stories: Top Moments From Worlds in the lead up to the 10th annual League Of Legends World Championships later this year.”

“For the championship tournament coverage, Spotify will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Worlds Anthem via a Spotify takeover.” 

Esports Insider: “Activision Blizzard made a significant personnel move this week, announcing the hiring of Major League Baseball deputy commissioner Tony Pettiti to lead its esports and entertainment efforts.”

“Pettiti, who will officially begin on August 17th, will be Activision Blizzard’s President of Sports and Entertainment and report directly to CEO Bobby Kotick.”

Sports Illustrated: “The NBA and MLB are trying—but largely failing—to capture the attention of sport-deprived fans through esports tournaments featuring professional basketball and baseball players competing as themselves in NBA2K or MLB: The Show. Meanwhile, esports leagues with real, professional gamers like the Call of Duty League (CDL) and Overwatch League (OWL) are quickly becoming more of a preferred option for people to watch and wager on while the nation is sheltering in place.”

“Gambling on esports continues to skyrocket while gambling on more traditional professional sports has plummeted after the NBA, MLB, and NHL regular seasons were all postponed and March Madness was canceled due to COVID-19. Sportsbooks are feeling the pain of not having sports in action. In fact, Nevada sportsbooks had a 96% loss in revenue for the month of March compared to both February 2020 and March 2019.”

“The Nevada Gaming Board just allowed sportsbooks to start offering odds on the Call of Duty League on April 17.”

Variety: “Across the globe, live sports have been suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The shutdown leaves inevitable gaps in programming — and sports fans looking to scratch that competitive itch have lost their favorite pastimes as they spend weeks self-isolating.”

“As the quarantine drags on, however, the gaming and esports scene has risen to the challenge of filling that void. The numbers speak for themselves: According to a study by Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet, in the first quarter of 2020, Twitch reached all-time highs for hours watched, hours streamed and average concurrent viewership.”

“Fans of esports — and perhaps those deprived of traditional sports looking for competitive entertainment — are turning out in swelling numbers to catch the action.”