Nike unveiled veteran League of Legends player Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson as a new brand ambassador.
With the ever-growing popularity of League or esports in general, more and more big companies have been getting involved with sponsorship and brand deals with leagues and players around the world. Deals with sportswear companies are a big aspect of traditional sports and when it comes to esports, Nike is looking to be a trendsetter in the industry.
Nike is already familiar with the Lolesports as they made a deal with the LPL in 2018 to become their exclusive jersey provider. The 5-year deal was around $140M, or 1B Chinese Yuan, which still continues to this day. Rekkles is also not their first individual signing either. Nike had previously signed the legendary Chinese player Jian ‘Uzi’ Zi-H as a brand ambassador and they even featured him in an advertisement video.
The partnership with Rekkles, which he announced on his Twitter, is the first hooray from Nike into the Western League scene. While there haven’t been too many details about what the partnership entails, fans were treated to a Rekkles section in the Nike app with apparel recommendations and workout plans.
Come check out how I power up ahead of the new season with @Nike 🤝
Details below 🥰 pic.twitter.com/Iv457oCuXi
— Martin Larsson (@RekklesLoL) August 10, 2022
On this page, Rekkles talks about the importance of physical activity and the impact of sports on his life. Before becoming a legend in League, Rekkles was an aspiring football player, but had to let go of his dreams due to an unfortunate injury. He “brought a sports mentality with [himself] to gaming, which gave him a huge advantage…”
Of course, it is obvious League or any esports aren’t as physically demanding as most traditional sports are. But this does not mean physical fitness or an active lifestyle is not important when it comes to gaming, which Rekkles also talks about. We saw physical injuries derail or even end careers in esports with players like Uzi and more recently Heo ‘Huni’ Seung-hoon.
For now, the partnership between Nike and Rekkles is aimed at bringing already out-there Nike products like sports apparel and planned workouts to the esports fans. If you’d like to learn more about the collaboration, you can check out Nike App, which is available on iOS and Android.
