Premier League football club Wolves have partnered with North American esports giant Evil Geniuses in a deal that will see both teams increase their reach into new geographic markets.
The partnership comes off the back of Wolves parent company Fosun Sports Group investing in the Seattle-based esports organisation, valuing the team at $255m and making it the first esports team with a physical presence in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to a press release published today.
The initial partnership will see Wolves branding featured on Evil Geniuses’ uniforms, and the Evil Geniuses’ logo will feature a splash of gold during the launch.
In return, Wolves’ Chinese team will help power Evil Geniuses expansion into the Asian market, where the popularity of esports has exploded in recent years, with a market size of approximately RMB 150bn in 2021.
“We are thrilled to partner with Wolves, a storied football club and strong sports and entertainment brand that aligns with our values and mission. This deal will help power Evil Geniuses’ expansion into the Asian markets while also providing new capital to sign more world-class players and grow into new esports titles.”
Nicole LaPointe Jameson, Evil Geniuses
In addition to supporting the creation of local Mandarin content, Wolves will also provide Evil Geniuses with local training facilities in China, including a training base for the League of Legends World Championship, should the team qualify for the showcase event in Shenzhen later this year.
Both teams will also work together to create English language content, sponsorship opportunities and joint branded merchandise which will be shared with fans in the coming months.
Wolves’ general manager of marketing & commercial growth, Russell Jones, said: “This is an incredibly exciting partnership for Wolves and Wolves Esports. We have very lofty ambitions in esports, and this partnership allows us to learn from the very best.
“We’ll be pooling resources across analysis and performance as well as marketing and commercial to service and grow both organisations. We are looking forward to working together on a number of fan engagement initiatives over the next few months, and when travel routes allow, we will be encouraging our teams to visit and learn from their respective colleagues.”
Earlier this year, Wolves appointed Michael Moriarty, aka DuckMoriarty, as its esports manager.
Evil Geniuses’ chief executive officer, Nicole LaPointe Jameson, added: “We are thrilled to partner with Wolves, a storied football club and strong sports and entertainment brand that aligns with our values and mission. This deal will help power Evil Geniuses’ expansion into the Asian markets while also providing new capital to sign more world-class players and grow into new esports titles.”
Wolves share Evil Geniuses’ values of supporting inclusion, education, innovation, teamwork and competition through esports.
Founded in 1999, Evil Geniuses boast a decorated history in esports, winning 86 national and 102 international championship titles. The organisation currently competes in four of the world’s biggest esports titles – League of
Legends, Dota 2, CSGO and Valorant. The League team are currently third in the North American Summer 2021 LCS competition.
These rosters, which boast players from the Americas, Asia and Europe, helped Evil Geniuses’ content team reach more than 42m people during last year’s competitive season.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
