PSV Esports, the competitive gaming division of Dutch football club PSV Eindhoven, has announced a partnership with Taiwanese PC component and periphery supplier Cooler Master.
According to the release, the agreement will last for at least one season, with Cooler Master named an official esports partner of the club.
Esports Insider got in touch with Damian Bott, PSV’s Marketing and Media Manager, to learn more about the partnership and the region’s innovative sponsorship structures.
RELATED: The sober Dutch approach to esports
Translated from a Dutch press release, the partnership will ensure that the PSV’s League of Legends team will be supported with Cooler Master’s PC components, gaming chairs and peripherals during competition. Bott hinted at a collaborative Cooler Master x PSV gaming chair activation which could carry over to benefit the club’s FIFA esports players competing in the eDivisie.
Frans Janssen, PSV Commercial Director, commented: “We are very pleased with Cooler Master as a new partner of PSV Esports, with Cooler Master we have a great, innovative partner from the Brainport region.”
Bott explained to ESI that following the conventions of airport and seaport, the Dutch government have designated a special economic ‘Brainport’ status to the southeast region of Brabant, the Netherlands. While the Brainport region (think Silicon Valley, suggested Bott) is a new name for the region, the government has also formed commercial group Brainport Eindhoven to allow private companies to support initiatives that benefit the region as a collective.
Major commercial members of Brainport Eindhoven include Dutch electronics company Philips, Benelux supermarket chain Jumbo, and High Tech Campus Eindhoven. Brainport Eindhoven is a main sponsor of PSV, with its support recognised through placement across all PSV teams, including the club’s esports initiatives.
Cooler Master’s partnership with PSV Esports aims to continue attracting and retaining talent that the Brainport region is constantly looking for. Bott told Esports Insider that even with remote work possible, today the region has more than 16,000 vacancies, mostly in the IT and tech sectors.
RELATED: PSV Esports eyes up partnership with Pearle Opticiens
“Many gamers, especially PC gamers, have an IT or technical study background. These are precisely the type of talent that various Brainport companies are looking for.” shared Bott. “Through our esports activities, we can connect both parties, employer and employee.”
“Together with PSV Esports, we have the ambition to further develop the gaming community,” added Aniek Stavast, Marketing Manager Benelux Cooler Master in the release. “For Cooler Master, a partnership with PSV’s League of Legends team is the best step towards making esports in the Benelux even bigger. PSV has the ambition to not only put the team on the map in the esports world, but also the Brainport region.”
Over the coming years, PSV, Cooler Master, and the club’s other partners aim to promote the professional gaming community in the Benelux region by creating unique content, activations and organising tournaments and events.
Bott shared that content and community aspects will be focused around topics such as vitality, physical fitness and screen-time. Using esports as the catalyst, the content aims to educate and stimulate the tech workers in the Brainport region, improving the sustainability of the employee’s wellbeing and lifecycle.
Esports Insider says: A partnership with Cooler Master and its League of Legends esports team is a slam dunk. What’s more curious, however, is the partnership’s tie-in to the ‘Brainport region’. This is the first we’re hearing of such a branded special economic region, let alone one supporting esports initiatives as a catalyst to the improvement of wellbeing for its citizenry. We love to see it.