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 coronavirus widely affect the industry, FunPlus Phoenix buy into FLASHPOINT, Telia acquire media rights to ESL Pro Tour, and Call of Duty League welcome new partners.
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The esports leagues and events affected by coronavirus
The current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted life around the globe, and that extends to the esports industry as well.
Esports Insider has compiled an ongoing list of events that have been affected by the outbreak, which will be updated as and when needed.
Read the full article here.
FunPlus Phoenix welcomed as founding team of FLASHPOINT
Chinese organisation FunPlus Phoenix bought into team-owned Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league FLASHPOINT.
FunPlus Phoenix reportedly acquired the roster that previously represented Danish organisation Heroic – the team is ranked #14 in the world in HLTV.org’s system.
Read the full article here.
Telia acquires Finnish media rights for ESL Pro Tour
Telia Finland acquired the Finnish media rights to ESL and DreamHack’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events as part of the ESL Pro Tour.
Telia will begin broadcasting the ESL Pro Tour later this month. ESL Pro League Season 11, with 13 partner teams and 11 other sides, kicks off on March 16th and will culminate in Denver over April 10-12th.
Read the full article here.
Call of Duty League partners with Twitter and U.S. Army
Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty League announced a pair of sponsorship agreements with Twitter and the U.S. Army for its opening season.
For Twitter, the agreement is one of global, multi-year proportions that’s described as making the social platform the “source for Call of Duty League highlights and community engagement” through the next three seasons.
The developer recruited the U.S. Army in a one-year agreement to activate “at multiple levels” across the Call of Duty League and Call of Duty Challengers.
Read the full article here.