North American organisation Cloud9 has entered a partnership with Puma, marking the German athletic apparel company’s first venture in esports.
The deal specifically involves Cloud9’s LCS team and will result in Puma providing trousers and trainers on match days. It will also act as a jersey sponsor for the team.
Jack Etienne, CEO & Owner of Cloud9 discussed the partnership: “We can’t think of a better way to kick off 2019 than with this incredible apparel partnership with PUMA. PUMA is recognized throughout the world, and having Cloud9 join PUMA’s roster of cultural phenomenon denotes an exciting new chapter for our organization. All of us are looking forward to what we’ll create with this partnership, and how good we’ll look while doing it.”
In the announcement, it was stated that the deal was made for the upcoming LCS Spring Split, which commences on January 26th and wraps up on March 24th. It’s unknown at the time of writing whether the partnership will be extended beyond this period.
Adam Petrick, Global Director of Marketing of Puma added: “Esports are becoming increasingly popular with our consumers, so this is a very exciting deal for us. Cloud9 is poised to have a great LCS season, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. We look forward to working with the Cloud9 team to make sure their players look as stylish off-stage as they do on-stage.”
The LCS was known as the NA LCS until last December. Following the EU LCS’ change to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), Riot Games trimmed down the competition’s identity to remove its ‘North American’ branding.
Cloud9 is also partnered with Red Bull, OMEN by HP, HyperX, U.S. Air Force, Secretlab, and streaming platform Twitch. Other than League of Legends, it competes in Overwatch, CS:GO, Fortnite, Hearthstone, PUBG, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Rules of Survival.
Esports Insider says: Cloud9 has finally joined the growing list of organisations that has an apparel partner! In all seriousness, it’s not too common to see a deal only last for a couple of months instead of a year or more. Hopefully the partnership continues beyond the Spring Split as having big brands such as Puma involved in the industry can provide good exposure and support.