Saudi Arabian esports organisation Team Falcons has expanded into popular mobile esports title Mobile Legends Bang Bang after securing a partnership with Southeast Asian organisation AP.Bren.
The deal, which was first announced earlier in May, has somewhat gone under the radar, perhaps because other teams such as Team Vitality, Fnatic and Team Liquid entered into the scene at a similar time.
Team Falcons disclosed to Esports Insider that the partnership is a multi-year deal that includes naming rights, hence the MPL Philippines team’s new moniker being AP.Bren Falcons. The deal will also include co-branding opportunities such as a custom jersey, a co-branded team logo, merchandising possibilities and a new social media account for the team.
When asked how the deal came to fruition, Aws Bani Baker, Team Falcons’ MENA Esports General Manager, noted that the announcement of the Esports World Cup 2024 was a major factor. The organisation confirmed that the partnership between AP.Bren and Team Falcons will give the latter organisation EWC Club Championship points.
“We at Team Falcons have been exploring our entry into a lot of titles to put us in a good position to win [the Esports World Cup],” he said. “After reviewing all of the titles, we’ve decided that Mobile Legends Bang Bang would be the game we will do a partnership in and thankfully Jaime Cruz, Head of Esports MEA at Moontoon Games connected us with all of the prominent organisations.
“After a lot of consideration, we’ve reached a deal with AP.Bren and their MLBB 2023 World Champion roster that we have full faith in coming into EWC 2024 as they’ve just earned their qualification and also the future tournaments to come.”
The Esports World Cup is a multi-title esports tournament funded by the Saudi Arabian government. Despite community criticisms towards the event, largely due to the country’s human rights restrictions for women and LGBTQ+ individuals, the Esports World Cup will feature some of esports biggest organisations competing for its $60m (~£47.1m) prize pool.
Team Falcons are among 29 other esports organisations that are a part of the Esports World Cup Foundation’s Club Support Program, which provides ‘six figure’ payments to teams for promoting and participating in the event.
The financial boost is intended to help teams expand into new titles and since the announcement, the likes of Guild Esports, NRG and TSM, among others have launched new teams
