South Korean esports organisation T1 has announced a partnership with the South Korean branch of the global car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz until at least 2025.
The partnership will see Mercedes’ branding be featured on the jerseys of the T1’s League of Legends team, which will be featured at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational in London this month. In addition, the two companies will host giveaways and other activations.
T1 is one of the most notable esports organisations in Asia and the world, and the organisation behind the three-time Worlds champion League of Legends team. The team is owned by T1 Entertainment and Sports, which is a joint venture between Comcast Spectacor and SK Telecom.
This partnership is the first time Mercedes is partnering with a South Korean esports brand, but the car brand is interestingly one of the main partners of the LCK, the top-flight Korean League of Legends league.
According to reports, T1’s star player and shareholder Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok also received a brand-new Mercedes-Benz EQE electric car as a part of the deal, but it is not clear whether the car is his to keep.
Interestingly, the partnership with the Korean branch of Mercedes marks the end of T1’s partnership with another German car brand, BMW. BMW has notably entered esports in 2020 through partnerships with five high-profile esports organisations, T1, G2 esports, Cloud9, Fnatic, and FunPlus Phoenix. Fnatic has worked with BMW on designing a custom mouse, for example.
Mercedes, on the other hand, is taking a different approach. The brand is a partner of Riot Games, and it has a partnership with German esports brand SK Gaming. Apart from that, Mercedes is a partner of Royal Never Give Up, a well-known LPL team, since 2018.
