Latest news with #sponsorship
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Agriplex now known as J-AAR Expo Centre, new sponsor wants to expand trade shows
London based J-AAR Construction is the new sponsor for the Western Fair Agriplex. The facility will now be known as the J-AAR Expo Centre.
The Verge
19 hours ago
- Business
- The Verge
Riot turns to sports betting to help fund its esports leagues
As the esports industry searches for new sources of revenue, Riot Games has opened up its League of Legends and Valorant esports leagues to sports betting sponsorships. The decision will permit tier one organizations – or the highest level of professional players – in the North and South America and European esports leagues of Valorant and LoL to secure paid sponsorships from sports betting companies, a previously prohibited category of sponsor. According to Riot, the reason for this change is because it's what the players and esports organizations have been asking for. 'We agreed it was time to open up this category to create more revenue opportunities for teams,' wrote John Needham, president of publishing and esports at Riot Games. There was a time in esports history when sponsorship dollars flowed in, generating lots of revenue for game publishers and enabling organizations to pay players salaries in the millions of dollars. Esports was seen as an investment vehicle, with media corporations and even traditional sports companies investing their dollars in hopes of capitalizing on what was then an untapped but steadily growing market. One of the most famous examples, Activision Blizzard's Overwatch League, sold franchise slots for tens of millions of dollars to investors like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Comcast. But the comparatively small revenue these leagues generate in conjunction with the high costs to run them, combined with the general economic downturn of the covid-19 pandemic, meant that companies could not get a return on their investments and began pulling their money out. It's forced esports organizations and esports game publishers alike to find new ways to pay players and staff or risk shuttering entirely, as the Overwatch League has. Over the last few years, Riot has changed how its esports leagues have worked to better weather what's being called the 'esports winter' or general contraction of the esports industry. The LoL league ecosystem has gotten smaller, thereby eliminating some teams' financial burden of participating (it costs $10 million dollars to have a slot) while also reducing Riot's financial responsibilities via its revenue sharing agreement with partnered teams. The addition of new categories of sponsors is the company's latest attempt to bring sustainability to its corner of the struggling esports scene. And sports betting companies are well-poised to fill that funding gap. While gambling sites aren't the only game in town if your esport needs money, they are some of the best paying. (Even The Verge is not immune with Vox Media displaying ads for gambling companies on its sites and podcasts.) Stake is an infamously known quantity in the video game streaming ecosystem, throwing eye-watering sums of cash at the most popular streamers to either make content on their own platform (Stake owns livestreaming site and Twitch competitor Kick) or to gamble on stream to their millions of viewers. Until now, Riot has prohibited its esports partner organizations from taking sponsorships from gambling companies. But the publisher says its guidelines can help implement the new type of sponsorship in a 'responsible' way with guidelines for teams and Riot to follow. These guidelines include Riot vetting all potential betting sponsors, teams adhering to an integrity program, and the prohibition of gambling ads on team jerseys or official Riot broadcasts. The formal inclusion of sports betting comes with significant risk to both competitive and moral integrity. Kids and young adults watch these streams, as well as the media around them. While Riot is not letting gambling companies put their logos on jerseys or the official broadcasts, the media around its esport is likely to become even more inundated with offers for gambling. This is what we've already seen with programming and podcasts focused on traditional sports like the NBA and NFL in the years since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was overturned in 2018. There have also already been allegations of and investigations into match fixing in both League of Legends and Valorant esports, with Riot recently banning two players from Riot competitions for three years. The addition of sports betting sponsorship – which could become a significant if not main source of revenue for many teams – has the potential to exacerbate existing competitive integrity issues as well as open up a potential avenue of harassment for players. With esports revenues still comparatively low, the industry has been getting increasingly desperate for any new sources of funding. Riot has already faced criticism for participating in events funded by Saudi Arabia as a part of the country's longstanding sportswashing strategy. Riot's inclusion of sports betting for League of Legends and Valorant will likely be no less controversial.
Times
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Times
Tottenham Hotspur sue Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos for £11m
Tottenham Hotspur have lodged a High Court claim for £11million against Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company Ineos Automotive, the club's former sponsor. Court documents show that Spurs are alleging that Ineos failed to make a payment as contracted of just under £500,000 in August last year and in December missed a payment of £5.1million for the 2025-26 season. A five-year sponsorship agreement was signed in 2022, worth a minimum of £17.5million overall, but Spurs terminated the contract in March this year, claiming the decision was prompted by Ineos's failure to pay. As part of the deal, Ineos named seats in the Spurs dugout, had advertising displayed on big screens at matches and its Grenadier car became the club's 4×4 vehicle partner. As first reported by The Lawyer, Spurs are seeking just over £11million from Ineos — £5.5m for missed payments last year, another £5.3milllion for the 2026-27 season, the final year of the original sponsorship deal, as well as £300,000 in interest. In 2024, Ratcliffe's Ineos Group bought a 29 per cent stake in Manchester United, one of Spurs' Premier League rivals and their opponents in the Europa League final on May 21, and it now runs the football operations at the Old Trafford club. Ratcliffe has withdrawn from other sports-related deals, including those with the All Blacks rugby team and Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team. An Ineos statement read: 'We had a contractual right to terminate our partnership contract and in December 2024 exercised that right. 'Like any business, we have to be diligent in how we operate and where we invest marketing budgets. It's completely normal for partnerships to be reviewed on a regular basis, and we've decided that the partnership wasn't working out for us. We have the right to terminate the partnership.'
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Newsflash: 27th June - Last drinks for Arkea - B&B? And No Tao in the Tour.. Again
Tensions around team sponsorships are intensifying in the WorldTour. Lotto Dstny secured a last-minute deal to stay afloat for the Tour de France, but its future beyond 2025 remains uncertain. Arkea-B&B Hotels faces a steeper drop, with both main sponsors withdrawing, and the team needing new backers urgently by 2026. The Tour de France start list has taken more hits. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) have withdrawn, as both were unable to regain their race form in time. Benoît Cosnefroy also remains sidelined, further thinning the French hopes at their home Grand Tour.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Globe and Mail
MCT Technic Becomes Naming Sponsor of Galatasaray Men's Basketball Team
MCT Technic one of the world's first producers of eco-friendly NOx sensors, has signed on as the official naming sponsor of the Galatasaray Men's Basketball Team for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons. Istanbul, Turkey--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2025) - Galatasaray Sports Club, one of Türkiye's leading sports institutions and one of the country's most globally recognized brands, has signed an agreement with MCT Technic for naming sponsorship of the Men's Basketball Team for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons. After serving as the team's jersey back sponsor last season, MCT Technic has now expanded the partnership by becoming the official naming sponsor. The team will compete under the name ' Galatasaray MCT Technic ' in the upcoming season. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: MCT Technic, which develops eco-friendly solutions through engineering capabilities, aims to merge its sustainability-driven vision in the automotive and mobility sectors with the unifying power of sports. Through this partnership with Galatasaray, the company is reinforcing its commitment to both innovation and social impact. Furkan Yılmaz, Chairman of the Board at MCT Technic, emphasized the significance of the partnership: "What began as a jersey back sponsorship last year has evolved into a new chapter where we share Galatasaray's name. This partnership represents a significant milestone for both our brand and Turkish engineering as a whole." To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: Hacı Yılmaz, Founder of MCT Technic, stated, "We established an R&D-focused technology brand years ago. Being associated with an institution as prestigious as Galatasaray today confirms we're on the right track. We're proud to bring together the worlds of sports and technology." Contact: Furkan Songur reklam@ +90 532 507 91 00 To view the source version of this press release, please visit
