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League/Tournament Brands:
Call of Duty League is rolling out its partner list for 2020, with returning sponsors including Mountain Dew Amp Game Fuel and PlayStation, and a new one in the U.S. Air Force.
CDL, whose 2020 season kicks off this weekend in Minneapolis, is announcing five sponsorship partners and two licensees for this season, which is the first under the geolocated/franchised model.
On the sponsor front, Mountain Dew’s gaming drink returns as the official beverage and now has a deal that runs through 2022. PlayStation 4 will be the official platform of the league and the presenting sponsor of the Call of Duty Challengers amateur competition that will be held at league events.
Other returning partners are Astro Gaming and SCUF Gaming, the former of which now has a deal through 2022 and the latter of which now has a deal through 2021. Astro holds the official headset and MixAmp category designation, while SCUF is the official controller. Astro will sponsor a new content series for CDL and sponsor its MVP Award on top of making a special-edition CDL headset and speaker tags for each team. SCUF will activate at its events, sponsor the “Behind the Controller” documentary series and make special-edition CDL controllers for all teams.
The U.S. Air Force has signed a new one-year deal that will see it activate at events with flight simulators and be featured in broadcasts as a sponsor of the “Match Metrics” feature.
Meanwhile, on the licensee front, CDL has added apparel maker Outerstuff as the developer of player kits and fan apparel, plus Mitchell & Ness for headwear.
Activision Blizzard Esports CRO Brandon Snow in a statement said, “We couldn’t be prouder to have these incredible brands as partners for the inaugural Call of Duty League season. Our partners not only support the players on their mission to win the first Call of Duty League Championship, they provide our fans around the world a better experience while attending Home Series matches or streaming at home.”
Adam Stern is a staff writer for the Sports Business Journal, where this article first appeared.
