TSM has inked a 10-year, $210 million name rights agreement with FTX Trading Limited and West Realm Shires Services Inc.
TSM will now know as “TSM FTX” in all games, including League of Legends, VALORANT, and Apex Legends.
In addition to expanding globally, TSM plans to invest in mobile gaming and other platforms with the money from the deal. It’ll also buy $1 million in FTX Token (FTT) for staff and players.
The sponsorship contract is one of the largest for an esports team that publicized officially.
It comes at a time when other digital money and products firms are venturing into the world of e-sports.
G2 Esports has partnered with Bondly, a platform for non-fungible tokens, while Dignitas has partnered with QNTMPAY, a digital bank. Several gambling websites that take bitcoin as payment have begun to assist Twitch gaming developers and influencers.
FTX and TSM
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried compares it to e-sports in sports and crypto in investment and finance.
Two crypto exchanges maintain by FTX and West Realm Shires, with FTX.US exchanging over $6 billion in the last 30 days.
Customers can trade the main coins, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, on those exchanges. But they can also trade fewer valuable currencies, such as Dogecoin, which has sparked interest on social media in recent months.
TSM and its parent company, Swift, regards widely as two of the most valued e-sports teams.
TSM values at $410 million by Forbes in December. And Swift believes to pull in $45 million in annual revenue, half of which comes from esports.
Swift’s other investments include the Blitz App, ProBuilds, and LoLCounter, which are all League of Legends guidance apps. Doublelift and Matthew WARDELL Yu are just two of the TSM players and influencers represented by ICON, a talent agency that creates at the end of 2020. ICON also represents 100 Thieves VALORANT pro-Spencer Hiko Martin and Toronto Defiant streamer Francine Franco Vo.
According to Riot, TSM cannot utilize FTX in its name or on player jerseys at League of Legends or VALORANT events in North America.
The TSM and FTX sponsorship arrangement does not violate any LCS sponsorship guidelines, according to interim LCS commissioner and Riot head of esports for North America and Oceania Chris Greeley.
As a result, TSM’s new naming scheme and the FTX brand on TSM jerseys will not affect the LCS or other Riot Games esports in North America.
