Last year’s LoL World Championship Finals in the AccorHotels Arena in Paris attracted an online audience of approximately 44 million fans worldwide viewing the live stream. On top of that, there are also other disciplines such as Dota 2, FIFA, Fortnite or Rocket League that the teams compete in all over the world, in tournaments of comparable size that will also be supported and promoted by BMW.

“Esports shows us how sports entertainment can continue to thrive and play a key role considering today’s challenges," says Jens Thiemer, Senior Vice President Customer and Brand BMW. 

POWERFUL TEAMMATES.

BMW will not simply act as a sponsor for these top teams but also as a powerful partner. Among other things, BMW will share the knowledge and expertise of its engineers and designers, to enable the development of hardware and software products that are perfectly tailored to gamers’ needs.

What’s more, BMW has committed to providing official team vehicles. Each organisation will have a team car featuring a custom livery with striking colours, combining motifs drawn in comic-book style with each organisation’s logo.The vehicles thus become an instantly recognisable part of each team. “Our long-term goal is to grow our team portfolio into true household names within the general sports and entertainment industry,” says Jens Thiemer.

UNITED IN RIVALRY.

Tapping into the competitive spirit and historic rivalries within esports, BMW’s new partnership will see the emergence of the new ‘United in Rivalry’ challenges. This will involve teams challenging each other prior to tournaments, using the #unitedinrivalry hashtag on social channels like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and various streaming platforms across the world.

It goes without saying that the teams’ interactions always stay within the parameters of esports etiquette, reflect the respect they have for each other and of course will take place at home. Therefore, they will use the #unitedathome hashtag in combination with #unitedinrivalry.

ORIGIN STORY.

BMW first attracted attention in the world of virtual sports as the official partner of the European League of Legends finals in Paris in 2017. By 2019, this included the successful SIM Racing season concluded by the BMW SIM LIVE premiere at BMW Welt in Munich. BMW had firmly moved into being a major player in esports, but above all, the BMW brand now supports some of the most influential and successful esports teams.