Energy drink brand Red Bull has announced four partners for its global university VALORANT tournament, the Red Bull Campus Clutch.
Three brands return to support the tournament in its second year. This includes PC brand Intel NUC, peripheral manufacturer Steelseries and monitor brand AGON by AOC. The tournament’s second season also welcomes gaming chair provider Backforce, with the company supplying ergonomic chairs for players at physical events.
The Campus Clutch first began in 2021, bringing events to 50 countries, with 25,000 students participating for its grand prize of $20,000 (~£16,500) as well as tickets to the next VALORANT Masters event.
The tournament attempts to showcase up-and-coming amateur talent and create a path to becoming a professional player. Notably, tournament MVP Mohamed ‘shalaby’ Shalaby went on to be signed by Team Vitality following a standout performance in 2021.
This year, the event will culminate in December with a LAN final in São Paulo, Brazil.
Intel NUC will support the tournament by providing high-powered PCs, while Steelseries will equip students with gaming headsets, keyboards and mice. AOC will continue to support the tournament with its AGON gaming monitors.
This year — in addition to four sponsors backing its Campus Clutch LAN events — the tournament features National Express as its Official Public Transport Partner for the UK. The bus company will help British students attend physical semi-final events across the country.
In addition to running tournaments across various titles, Red Bull has also made a point of sponsoring esports teams. It currently backs OG, G2 Esports, Cloud 9 and T1, among others. In VALORANT, the Campus Clutch is a sister tournament to the Red Bull Homeground, which took place in London in November last year. The event featured professional European teams such as Ascend, Team Liquid and Fnatic.
Red Bull recently announced another Homeground event for December this year in Manchester. The 2022 tournament will be the first time that North American teams will be invited to square off against EMEA teams at a Homeground event.
