Two months after terminating its brand licensing contract with the soccer club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, esports management company E-Flix eSports has signed Brazilian e-commerce Netshoes as its newest partner for the organization that will play the Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLOL), the Brazilian Free Fire League (LBFF), and the EA Sports FIFA tournaments.
The E-Flix brand will now cease to exist, opening a path for a new brand and name: Miners, a reference to the Brazilian state where it was born, Minas Gerais. Through the deal with its new partner, the organization will play under the name Netshoes Miners for at least the next five years.
This is not the first step into esports for Netshoes; the company already has a team competing in FIFA tournaments, with former soccer player and current esports pro Wendell Lira on its roster. Now all divisions, totalling 32 athletes, will be under the Netshoes Miners banner and management.
Netshoes will also increase its investments in esports-related products for sale in its e-commerce storefront, including notebooks, consoles, gaming chairs, and other accessories specifically designed to the target audience. The company owner is Magalu, one of the biggest business groups in Brazil.
Miners CEO Marcelo Fadul told The Esports Observer that “the ideal for us is to be able to count with their structure, both digital and also physical with Magalu, to connect esports to a branch that Netshoes always had, which is the sportive one. So, this is the perfect fusion, expanding Netshoes beyond esports that come from traditional sports, and for us to have the security of counting Netshoes as a partner for a long time, being able to bring in new athletes, influencers, and develop ourselves competitively.”
Netshoes Miners was born with sportswear brand Umbro as its partner. Umbro will provide jerseys and sports material, along with an exclusive collection to be sold on Netshoes’ e-commerce site. The deal with Umbro is a renewal of an ongoing contract with the Netshoes E-Sports team.
As Miners owns a spot in CBLOL (acquired when it was known as E-Flix eSports), it had the approval of Riot Games to close the partnership and use the new brand in the competition. Recently, another franchised team went through a rebrand: esports organizations Vorax and Havan Liberty merged to form Vorax Liberty.
