As always, we’ve rounded up the biggest and best stories from the past week so you can stay abreast of the industry’s biggest happenings. This week in esports saw BT and IMAX enter the industry, Blizzard join forces with ESL and DreamHack for three titles, and Olympique Lyonnais embrace LDLC.
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Excel Esports hires CEO Wouter Sleijffers and CCO Robin McCammon
British organisation Excel Esports appointed former Fnatic CEO Wouter Sleijffers as its CEO and former adidas Director Robin McCammon as its CCO ahead of its planned global expansion.
Kieran Holmes-Darby, the former CEO, will now assume the role of Chief Gaming Officer, with his co-founder Joel Holmes-Darby becoming Chief People Officer.
Read the full article here.
Excel Esports appoints BT as lead partner
Following the new appointments, Excel Esports made multinational telecommunications company BT its exclusive lead partner.
As part of a multi-year sponsorship agreement, BT will act as a jersey sponsor for Excel Esports’ teams in Riot Games‘ LEC and UKLC.
Read the full article here.
Vindex establishes partnership with IMAX
Recently-launched esports infrastructure company Vindex established a partnership with Canadian cinema company IMAX.
Founded by MLG co-founders Mike Sepso and Sundance DiGiovanni, Vindex will create esports events and exclusive content to be shown in IMAX cinemas on a global scale.
Read the full article here.
Team LDLC kicks off partnership with Olympique Lyonnais
French football club Olympique Lyonnais partnered with technology company LDLC Group, the parent company of French organisation Team LDLC.
Team LDLC rebranded to LDLC OL and will relocate its operations to Lyon, France in the first quarter of the year.
Read the full article here.
ESL Pro Tour launched for StarCraft and Warcraft in three-year deal
Modern Times Group properties ESL and DreamHack entered a three-year strategic agreement with Blizzard Entertainment.
StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged will receive their own ESL Pro Tour circuits with respective prize pools of $1.8 million and over US $200,000 in 2020 as part of the deal.
Read the full article here.
Hearthstone Masters Tour enlists ESL and DreamHack
Blizzard Entertainment also announced that it will be expanding the Hearthstone Masters Tour for the 2020 season with the assistance of ESL and DreamHack.
The circuit will double from three tournaments to six, with each event boasting a $250,000 (£190,700) prize pool. Crowdfunding initiatives which contribute towards prize money will also be implemented.
Read the full article here.