A European university esports tournament ran by GGTech has become the Amazon University Esports League as the ecommerce giant adds its name to esports growing portfolio of big brand sponsorships.
Previously 100 universities have participated in the GGTech organized University Esports tournament which will now be ran out of the digital district in Alicante, Spain. The tournament boasts previous sponsors including League of Legends owners Riot Games as well as TFT, Intel, Omen and Mapfre.
The goal for 2020’s Amazon University Esports tournament appears to be to reach 350 participating European universities as the tournament is extended to Italy, as well as Spain, and beyond. And, the titles played for 2020, as per a press release, will be widened to include League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), Clash Royale, Hearthstone, Brawl Stars, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).
Participating teams will be grouped into four conferences with the winners heading to a grand final playoff. The overall League of Legends winning team will go on to represent Spain and Italy in the University Esports Masters 2020.
2019’s University Esports Masters was the fourth year of Europe’s largest collegiate esports tournament and was held at Gamergy in Madrid, Spain. The Master’s sees over 800 universities from 16 European countries competing.
Read also: Why college esports degrees are on the rise
Exact details of Amazon’s sponsorship of the university tournament haven’t been revealed, other than the name, but it’s not the ecommerce and technology company’s first esports sponsorship. In 2017 Amazon’s mobile department signed a one-year deal for its Amazon App Store platform and “Coins” virtual currency to sponsor North America’s NRG Esports. The deal covered NRG’s Hearthstone and Vainglory teams for the year.
It’s somewhat surprising that Amazon, as owners of streaming platform Twitch, hasn’t put its brand to other esports teams and tournaments. It perhaps instead prefers to leave esports coverage to Twitch which it paid $970 million for in 2014.
Image courtesy of University Esports TV
