E-sports have become incredibly popular over the last few years thanks to competitive games such as Starcraft, League of Legends, and Overwatch. Professional leagues have been created around these video games and have turned themselves into billion-dollar industries. One of the leading countries in the e-sports movement is China, who has the League Of Legends Pro League. It is now being reported by the Verge that Nike has signed a deal with the league in order to become its official outfitter.
This means that Nike will be making sneakers and jerseys for the teams within the league. As reported by the Verge, teams have signed endorsement deals in the past, but nothing of this magnitude has ever been done before.
Per the Verge:
"The deal with Nike is something of a landmark in e-sports. While companies like Champion and K-Swiss have signed apparel deals with individual teams and players in the past, this marks the first league-wide agreement with a major athletics manufacturer."
As stated in the Tweet above, these jerseys will eventually be available for purchase. The gear will be making its debut later in 2019 at the League of Legends World Championship in Paris.
Nike is also expected to give physical training programs to the teams as well, in an effort to prepare them for big competitions.