Rocket League Esports and financial services company Ally Financial Inc. have this morning announced the Ally Women’s Open, a new women’s Rocket League tournament.
Ally became an official sponsor of the North American RLCS in February 2023, and the relationship includes branding in RLCS broadcasts during the Winter and Spring splits.
As part of the sponsorship, Ally will headline the Ally Women’s Open, a new women’s Rocket League tournament in March 2023, with a $20,000 prize pool for North America and $20,000 for Europe.
The news comes shortly after the Women’s Car Ball Championship, a separate Rocket League tournament, went through some turbulent times. It was put on hold for financial reasons, before its CEO departed and new ownership was announced. There has also been women’s Rocket League tournaments in the Commonwealth Esports Championships. The Ally Women’s Open will now bring some competition to these.
The new Ally tournament will be produced by Raidiant, a gaming and esports media platform led by an all-women’s management team, whose mission is to ‘celebrate and champion opportunities for women gamers along with providing a range of resources’.
The Head of Raidiant, Heather Garozzo, was the first woman inducted into the Esports Insider Hall of Fame (2019) and was also inducted into the Women in Games Hall of Fame in 2021.
Ally says it’s ‘deepening its marketing presence in gaming with an investment designed to promote women esports competitors and support the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS)’.
Ally Women’s Open part of Ally’s plans to reach a 50/50 media spend across men’s and women’s sports & esports
Through this new women’s tournament featuring Rocket League, Ally says it will continue to advance its 2022 pledge to reach 50/50 media spend across men’s and women’s sports, including esports.
“Investment in all sports, including esports, has long been biased towards men’s competition. To address this inequity, we’ve made a pledge to reach equal media spend across men’s and women’s sports over the next five years because we believe there should be a level playing field for all athletes – whether on the field, the racetrack, or in gaming,” said Bridget Sponsky, executive director of brand and partnerships at Ally.
“This sponsorship gives us a way to engage with the fans and players of a massively popular industry, while providing increased exposure and income opportunities for the incredibly talented female competitors.”
What else is Ally doing in gaming?
Ally’s presence in gaming has included experiences for players in Animal Crossing, Minecraft and Twitch. The relationship with Rocket League Esports is Ally’s first esports sponsorship in competitive gaming.
In addition to sponsoring the Ally Women’s Open, Ally’s programming will include ad buys and broadcast integrations during the RLCS North American livestreams, as well as inclusions in the league’s associated social campaigns.
The sponsorship is also designed to ‘help elevate amateur and semi-pro players, known as the Bubble scene, through a community empowerment campaign’ with Rocket League Esports.
“These tournaments expose newer players to talent scouts, which can eventually lead to larger financial opportunities by competing in the RLCS,” read a press release. “More details on the Bubble tournaments included in the sponsorship will be shared soon.”
You can watch the Ally Women’s Open on Rocket League’s Twitch Channel starting at 11am ET on March 26th.
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.
