From sponsorships to industry-wide announcements, Insider Sport has you covered when it comes to the world of esports.
This week’s edition highlights the latest developments within the sector, including Electronic Arts (EA) and the Premier League revealing that the ePremier League will return for the 2024/25 season.
EA’s FC 25 title will host the games, with players competing for a share of its £100,000 prize pool. There will also be additional competitions for players to take part in, such as fighting for eChampions League and FC Pro World Championship qualification.
This marks the seventh edition of the ePremier League, taking place from late November to March 2025.
UK residents over 16 years old will be eligible to register and compete through the online qualifiers, which are set to take place between November and December.
After the qualifiers, club playoffs will begin in January 2025 to determine which players will represent the 20 Premier League clubs. This will consist of individual Xbox X|S and PS5 brackets, with each Premier League club needing to field one player per console.
Sam Turkbas, Senior Director of Esports at EA SPORTS, commented: “We’re thrilled to embark on another ePremier League season with EA SPORTS FC Pro, our premier platform crafted for elite esports competition.
“This event is more than just a tournament; it’s an incredible journey for players of all abilities to progress from playing casually at home to proudly representing their clubs on the grand stage of the ePremier League and beyond. EA SPORTS FC remains dedicated to bringing the spirit of football to life, using esports as a powerful bridge to connect fans with the game they’re passionate about.”
Lost trust? How the Football Manager delay impacts licensing
Insider Sport spoke to Malph Minns, Managing Director of Strive Sponsorship to learn how Football Manager 25’s delay may affect future licensing deals.
Football Manager is a game series that began in 1992 with the release of Championship Manager, where the objective is to manage a football club, handling everything from tactics and budgets to transfers and training plans.
Last year’s edition became the most-played title in the series’ history, boasting seven million players by February 2024. However, building on this success has proven challenging, as Sports Interactive, the developer, announced last month that Football Manager 25 has been delayed until March next year.
In the interview, Minns warned that “renewal discussions may contain tighter provisions and higher penalties for future agreements as some trust will have been lost, and the licensor will want to ensure they are adequately protected from the same happening again.”
Another implication Minns highlighted is a clause that obliges the licensee (Football Manager 25 in this case) to use the licence within a certain period.
He explained: “This is to stop companies from just blocking competitors from doing stuff but also to ensure the licensee helps build the brand for the licensor.” Minns highlighted that, depending on their contracts, a delay could technically breach these agreements.
Despite these concerns, Minns believes that it is unlikely there will be any licence termination discussions happening, stating that “Sports Interactive has a good record and a clear and credible reason for the delay, and there is limited opportunity for the leagues to monetise by licensing to anyone else.”
To read the full interview with Malph Minns and learn how the delay could affect the wider Football Manager community, click HERE.
BLAST Premier World Final viewership peaks at 556,000
Following the conclusion of the BLAST Premier World Final 2024, viewership has increased substantially compared to last year’s tournament.
The event, which took place in Singapore, saw a peak of 556,000 viewers, according to data platform Esports Charts. This is an increase of around 200,000 peak viewers when compared to last year’s event.
Despite this growth, viewership was lower than other BLAST events in 2024, marking the tournament the eighth-most watched BLAST CS2 event of all-time, behind both the Spring and Fall Finals of 2024.
In terms of average viewership, the World Final 2024 recorded an average of 221,000 viewers, an increase of around 70,000 when compared to 2023, and around one million more hours watched.
Comparing these figures, the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 had a peak of 900,000 viewers and 303,000 viewers on average.
As suggested in the Esports Insider report on these figures, one reason for the lower viewership is the absence of NAVI, a fan-favourite team, for the majority of the tournament.
A second reason for the lower viewership is the location of the tournament. Being hosted in Singapore affected the viewership in regions where CS is usually most popular due to the time zone difference.
Team Falcons link up with Saudi-based NEO Digital Banking
Saudi esports organisation Team Falcons has announced a five-year partnership with banking platform NEO Digital Banking.
As part of the agreement, NEO Digital Banking’s logo will feature on Team Falcons’ jerseys. The two entities are yet to disclose details about other future partnership activations.
Team Falcons noted that the deal aims to boost NEO’s brand presence in the esports community. Additionally, the partnership looks to strengthen the relationship between esports and financial institutions, as well as enhance esports investments in Saudi Arabia.
Notably, Team Falcons competed in, and won, the inaugural Esports World Cup Club Championship, part of the multi-title esports competition that took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mossad Al-Dossary, CEO of Team Falcons, commented: “We are proud to partner with NEO, as it aligns with our vision of creating unique experiences for players and esports fans in the Kingdom.
“This agreement represents a significant step in integrating digital technology into Saudi esports culture, and we are excited about our future achievements together.”
