Team Liquid has managed to take its partnership with car manufacturer giant Honda to the next level following today’s announcement that the organization’s prestigious League roster will officially be rebranded and will compete under the name “Team Liquid Honda.” This naming partnership has been made official just a couple of days before the start of the 2022 LCS Summer Split.
Aside from the Honda branding getting placed to the official team name, the Honda logo is now the focus of their competitive jersey as it is placed front and center, as revealed in an official announcement trailer via Twitter. The deal also includes naming rights for the Liquid academy team.
Team Liquid via Twitter:
“We’re leveling up with one of our longest standing partners @Honda.
Introducing Team Liquid Honda, an all new naming partnership aimed at bringing our League of Legends team to new heights.”
Liquid partnered with Honda at first way back at the beginning of 2019, designating the company as the “official automobile partner” of one of the best North American esports organizations, all of these in similar steps to BMW and Mercedes. At the time, Honda also sponsored a six episode video series titled “Level Up,” which covered several of Liquid’s League, Fortnite, and Dota 2 teams. The car company also decided to provide the team with a customized Honda Odyssey customized in the Liquid branding. The new deal includes a Liquid branded Honda HR-V compact SUV and a Civic Hatchback, according to a recent press release.
Liquid isn’t the only esports company to affix a sponsor’s name directly onto a team name in recent history, as it’s one of the most profitable forms of sponsorships. TSM signed a massive 10 year, $210 million naming rights deal with cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX back in June 2021, but Riot Games does not allow the team to use the full TSM FTX name in either League or VALORANT live streams since it violates its guidelines on partnerships with crypto exchanges. Also, Riot itself signed a deal with FTX just two months later. Liquid’s naming rights deal with Honda should be unaffected by Riot guidelines, compared to the previously mentioned.
The Team Liquid Honda League roster enters the 2022 LCS Summer Split after a disappointing third place finish in the spring split, a result that many consider below expectations for one of the strongest star studded rosters of all time for League of Legends competitive pro play, featuring names such as the legendary mid laner Bjergsen, former LEC All Pro bot laner Hans sama, former Worlds champion support CoreJJ, and the dynamic duo lane of top laner/jungler Bwipo and Santorin respectively.
The team’s debut under their new name and in their new jerseys, will be a possible chance at redemption of last split, especially as this time around a good result means a Worlds spot. The first game is set for Friday, June 17th at 7:30pm CT against Immortals.
