- Burger King, GFUEL, Play Top Frag, and Vertagear have joined BLAST Pro Series as tournament partners for Miami.
- BLAST Pro Series Miami will take place on April 12-13 and is the second in an eight-part 2019 season.
- Burger King will host an online competition to award fans with tickets for BLAST Pro Series’ Los Angeles event.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 
BLAST Pro Series has announced partners for its upcoming April tournament in Miami, including Burger King, GFUEL, Vertagear, and first-person shooter (FPS) game training game Play Top Frag.
RFRSH Entertainment’s
BLAST Pro Series spans eight international tournaments every season, with each event featuring six top teams (including at least one local to the region) and a $250K USD prize pool. The 2019 season’s first event was in São Paulo, Brazil, which attracted 7,000 fans and another 7,500 on the waiting list, according to RFRSH.BLAST Pro Series Miami will take place on April 12-13 at the Watsco Center.
Burger King will host an online competition where fans can win tickets for the upcoming BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles on July 12-13. G Fuel will offer a similar giveaway, discount codes, and will receive product presence on stage.
“For each BLAST Pro Series, we grow exponentially bigger and stronger,” said Leo Matlock, head of commercial solutions at RFRSH Entertainment and BLAST Pro Series in a release. “With the list of new partners teaming up with us, we’ll undoubtedly grow even more following our upcoming events. At the same time, it will showcase how fruitful these kind of partnerships are for both parties. We are bringing brands into an industry that’s growing massively on a global scale.”
Related Article: RFRSH Entertainment Partners With Komodo for BLAST Pro Series Madrid
These new partners join a growing list of brands that will collaborate with BLAST Pro Series in 2019. Global series partners include OMEN by HP, Betway, and Twitch. In March, Betway signed a one-year partnership deal with RFRSH, that includes branding, backstage access segments, and VIP hospitality.
It should be noted that Play Top Frag was created by Kajaani University of Applied Sciences with Mia Stellberg, who provides sports psychology services to esports teams including Astralis
—owned by RFRSH Entertainment. The Esports Observer previously identified a potential conflict in interest with Omen by HP being both a partner of the BLAST Pro Series, and RFRSH Entertainment teams Astralis and Origen .
World Esports Association (WESA) rules prevent a holding company from entering more than one team into a sanctioned event. As a result, both ESforce Holding and RFRSH scaled down to a single Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, respectively.
Other such conflicts have been observed in the esports ecosystem. ESforce Holding’s tournament organization arm will host the last Dota 2 Major of the season, despite owning one of the competing teams, Virtus.pro.
Editor’s note: Graham Ashton contributed to this story.
