China’s League of Legends operator TJ Sports announced the new partner list for its League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Spring Split. The competition will begin on Saturday, and feature 15 partners including head partner Mercedes-Benz; strategic partners Nike, diary brand Momchilovtsi, KFC, and Harbin Brewery; official partners spring water brand Wahaha, energy drink Warhorse, OPPO, e-commerce platform Suning, Lenovo Legion, chat service TT, Chinese job platform Liepin; and special partners gaming chair AutoFull, Intel, and Razer.
Lenovo Legion, TT, Liepin, and Razer are four new faces in the LPL Spring Split. In 2020, the LPL Summer Split featured 13 partnership brands, with three of the brands ending the partnerships: shampoo brand Clear, SPD Bank, and HP.
It’s also the first time that an employment platform, Liepin, has sponsored a Chinese esports competition. In November of 2020, British esports and gaming job platform Hitmaker launched its second crowd equity campaign at $6.4M Pre-Money valuation.
In addition, two of the sponsors,TT Chat and Suning.com, also own LPL teams: Suning (SN) and TT Esports. Last year, TT acquired Dominus Esports and the LPL franchise slot. In China’s top Honor of Kings competition, King Pro League, TT also is one of the sponsors of the competition and owns the KPL team TTG.XQ.
