Over the past week, the esports industry in China has seen some notable partnerships and non-endemic sponsorships.
Among the top stories: China will establish an ‘Esports Work Council’ in order to reinforce and standardize the esports industry in the country, Nike officially signed a four-year sponsorship deal with TJ Sports for China’s top League of Legends 
Pro League (LPL), Tencent’s top Honor of Kings league lost McDonald’s and M&M’s ended support for KPL, Newbee signed a major partnership with Li-Ning and Shanghai Bank, and social media company Weibo signed partnerships with Overwatch League (OWL) and English soccer team Wolverhampton Wolves.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
China Will Establish ‘Esports Work Council’ to Reinforce Standards
Credit: Xinhua
On March 2, the China Internet Association held a “Digital Esports and Intelligent Economy” summit in Beijing, at Tsinghua University. Multiple Chinese esports-relevant company executives and politicians attended the summit. During the event, the China Internet Association claimed it would establish an Esports Work Council, in order to promote, reinforce, and standardize the esports industry, combine esports and China’s education strategy, and guide esports into a sustainable way.
Song Maoen, the vice secretary of China Internet Association said:
“The esports industry has grown in a certain scale and level, it already has sort of strong economic effect.”
This summit has received the support of multiple Chinese governmental departments, including the Chinese Propaganda Department, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and General Administration of Sport of China.
Weibo Signs Partnerships With Overwatch League and Wolverhampton Wolves
Credit: Wolves eSports
On Feb. 27, Chinese social media company Weibo (a similar platform to Twitter and Instagram) signed two major partnership with OWL and English soccer team Wolverhampton Wolves.
For the OWL partnership, according to the announcement, Weibo will become the official social media partner of the league, and fully track any relevant OWL content. According to Sina tech, Weibo has reached 462M active monthly users.
As for the partnership between Wolverhampton Wolves and Weibo, the two companies have established a joint esports organization called Wolves eSports. Wolves eSports will compete in a FIFA Online 4 tournament in China. Multiple Chinese esports players will join the organization, with further details to be announced in March.
Singapore Pop Superstar JJ Lin’s PUBG Pro Team Will compete in China PUBG Development League
Credit: Team SMG
On March 1, Singapore pop singer JJ Lin established his own Chinese PUBG esports team – Team SMG CN. The team will compete in the PUBG Development League (PDL), the second tier PUBG tournament in the country. The tournament will start at March 6, and not only will team SMG attend the tournament, but also “Jteam” and “TheJames,” the teams owned by famous pop singers JayChou and Jam Hsiao.
In fact, JJ Lin has shown interest in the esports industry since 2016. He made an in-game music pack for Dota 2 – “JJ Lin’s Timekeeper,” which can be purchased by players.
Other Business News
- Nike has confirmed a four year sponsorship deal with TJ Sports for China’s League of Legends Pro League (LPL). The deal is valued at ¥50M RMB ($7.48M USD) a year according to Lanxiong Sports. This deal would see all LPL players, coaches, referees, and team managers exclusively wear Nike branded clothing and shoes on game days. Nike will also partner with the LPL teams and professional players to design professional physical training programs.
- Newbee signed partnership deals with apparel brand Li-Ning and Shanghai Bank. Li-Ning will only sponsor Newbee’s Dota 2 team, and plans to produce “Li-Ning X Newbee” exclusive joint apparel and footwear. Shanghai Bank will produce Newbee-branded debit cards, available to the public in the future.
- On March 6, Tencent Games announced its plan for the 2019 King Pro League (KPL) Spring Season. The sponsor list includes Vivo, HLA Jeans, gum brand 5, Saic-Volkswagen T-Cross, and Tongyi Ice Tea, but not last year’s sponsors: McDonald’s, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, or M&M‘s. In addition, the prize pool of this season also reduced, from ¥12M ($1.79M) last year to ¥8M ($1.19M).
