Overwatch League Announces Partnership With Bud Light

Blizzard’s flagship first-person shooter has always had Esports as its number one priority. In their second season, the Overwatch League continues to expand and grow beyond many other organizations and tournaments. The league even holds one of the only seasonal All-Star Events in Esports. 

Today, the Overwatch League announced Anheuser-Busch -- the brewing company that owns Bud Light --  as their first official beer partner. The league currently other major sponsorships, like broadcasting deals with Disney and beverage deals with the Coca-Cola company. 

Since its inception, the Overwatch League has always done as much as they can to resemble that of professional sports leagues. They are one of the first competitive leagues to make location-based franchises mandatory, they have a stellar and important broadcast quality and team, and now they have announced a beer sponsor. As everyone knows, beer commercials and competitive sports are synonymous. 

“AB InBev and specifically Bud Light helped to create the notion of sports sponsorships as we know them today. We are thrilled to be partnering with a company that is all about the fans, as we are with the Overwatch League,” said Josh Cella, head of global partnerships for Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues.

Blizzard’s upcoming plans to hold officially sanctioned fan watch parties go further than just this weekend, where the Overwatch League heads on the road for the first time to Dallas, where Bud Light will be the primary beer sponsor during these activations. 

The parties extend to the Atlanta homestand and the LA Rivalry Weekend coming real soon, along with the Overwatch League 2019 Grand Finals. 

Today’s press release also states that information regarding the dates and location for the OWL 2019 Grand Finals will be revealed soon. So more on that to come. 

As for the beer sponsorship, it's a remarkably large step for an Esports brand to have an adult beverage sponsorship. The Overwatch League will obviously have to ensure that these ad spots and activations are reaching the right Overwatch audience, as some of the matches are broadcast live on Disney XD. For now, though, it seems like Bud Light is going to be a large presence at live events, and may not make it to the Blizzard Arena at all. 

Regardless of where it pops up, the partnership is huge. 

“Partnering with a brand like Bud Light and the AB InBev family of brands allows us to continue to reach fans in new and exciting ways,” said Brandon Snow, chief revenue officer of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues. “We’re very happy to be working with a company that finds value in bringing fans together to celebrate the very best in competitive entertainment.”

AB InBev has been around a long time, and for them to get behind the inherent value of an Esports-related activation says a whole lot in regards to their opinion of the current state and future of the industry. 

We’re excited to see what the Overwatch League has to offer fans this weekend in Dallas, where the Fuel will begin a presumably long and fruitful history of home games. 

OWL Stage 2 Week 4 matches kick off live from the Allen Event Center in North Texas tomorrow, Saturday, April 27th at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.