From airlines to betting and crypto — which brands are promoted by The International 2023 teams on jersey front?

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Over the past few years, esports clubs have come up with numerous ways to collaborate with sponsors, including pre-video advertisements, social media posts, joint giveaways, and more. However, the most popular collaboration with sponsors remains the placement of their name or logo on the players' jerseys. Esports Charts has analyzed the sponsors on the jerseys of participants in The International 2023, the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year.

An esports club may have many sponsors, but usually, only the main ones end up on the jerseys. There is also a difference in where the sponsor logo or name is placed. This all depends on the value of the contracts — the most expensive sponsor will be placed in the most prominent position (for example, on the chest), while a small sponsor may not appear on the jersey at all (they may only be mentioned in the club's social media or on the official website). In this article, we are only considering headline sponsors, who are placed on the chest, abdomen, and shoulders, the most visible areas of the uniform.

Top TI teams and regions by number of sponsors

In total, we have counted 36 unique brands in 14 different categories on the front side of the tournament participants' jerseys. The leaders in terms of the number of sponsors were Thunder Awaken, Gaimin Gladiators, and Evil Geniuses, each featuring four different companies or brands. However, Tundra Esports, Talon Esports, nouns, Entity, and Beastcoast only had one sponsor each prominently displayed on their jerseys.

Also read: Major sponsors of esports events in H1 2023

Looking at the regions, teams from South America and Western Europe had the highest number of unique sponsors and brands on their jerseys, with 12 sponsors in 8 different categories. The teams from North America and Southeast Asia had the least diverse range of sponsors. However, it's important to note that there are five teams from Western Europe participating in the tournament; hence, they have more sponsors compared to the two representatives from Southeast Asia.

What else does the number of sponsors on a jersey depend on? Sometimes, to meet all the needs of a club, it is sufficient to have just one major sponsor, but if this sponsor cannot be found, teams sign several smaller sponsors. On the other hand, big clubs can have many sponsors simply because of their reputation and past achievements (like Team Liquid, for example). Sponsors like to work with such organizations because the professional Dota 2 scene is considered very unstable — teams often disband, change rosters, etc.

In some situations, large companies literally become owners of a team and even give it a new name that is synonymous with their own brand. Among the participants of The International 2023, such teams include BetBoom Team, Shopify Rebellion, PSG Quest, and Gaimin Gladiators. Having the sponsor mentioned directly in the team name is one of the most expensive forms of collaboration.

Most popular sponsor categories for teams at The International 2023

The most popular category of sponsors among participants of The International 2023 is bookmaker companies — we have counted 12 mentions of seven different brands. More than half of the tournament participants have the logos of bookmaker sponsors on their jerseys (THUNDERPICK, Winline, PARI, etc.). The majority of these mentions are found on the jerseys of teams from Western and Eastern Europe, as well as South America.

The second most popular category of sponsors is various platforms (gaming, trading, etc.). Among them, we can mention VK GAME, Bilibili, and others. In total, we counted mentions of five unique platforms from representatives of four regions. The category of Software & Hardware includes four unique brands. Computers & Peripheral, as well as Apparel & Accessories and Beverage have three unique brands featured each. These are the most endemic categories for the esports industry, and usually such sponsors are present on most professional teams. Among the unique sponsors, we can mention Airlines — this sponsor in the form of Qatar Airways is only present with the PSG Quest team. 

Many unusual sponsors can be found among the Chinese teams. For example, Azure Ray collaborates with the state transportation company Suzhou High-speed Railway New City, as well as with the company PAWKA, which produces pet food and vitamins. Among the partners of LGD Gaming, Hotdog stands out — it is a digital platform in the metaverse where many NFT collections from well-known brands are represented.

Differences between sponsors in Dota 2 and other disciplines

Each discipline has its own sponsorship peculiarities, and in this matter, a lot depends on the developers and tournament organizers. For example, Riot Games prohibits participants in its franchise leagues from advertising bookmakers and cryptocurrency exchanges, so you will not see betting sponsors in League of Legends and Valorant. At the same time, Dota 2 and CS:GO have a large number of sponsors in this segment because, from a financial point of view, bookmakers are one of the most profitable sponsors for teams. 

Read also: VCT 2023 International Leagues — Teams Sponsorship Breakdown

Another interesting example is the presence of an alcoholic brand among the sponsors of The International 2023 participants. We are talking about the whiskey brand Ballantine's, which cooperates with the Tundra Esports team. So far, such collaborations have been extremely rare in the esports industry. Advertising of non-alcoholic beer has been allowed, but at the Dota 2 World Championship, the organizers have lifted the taboo on this topic.

Other interesting observations include the fact that on the front of the jerseys of The International 2023 participants, there is no mention of sponsors from the Food & Food Supplements, Food Chains & Restaurants, and Gaming Furniture categories. Even the Beverage category (very close to esports) is represented by only three teams out of 20.

In general, the number and variety of sponsors in Dota 2 is much smaller than in League of Legends, its main competitor in the genre. The reasons for this are varied, ranging from the structure of the professional scene to the different number of teams. In Dota 2 there are few teams that can offer sponsors long-term cooperation. Here, cases are more often practiced when a team signs a sponsor for one season or for a specific tournament that they manage to get into. In League of Legends the situation is different — there teams are more available for long-term cooperation as they do not risk dropping out of the franchise leagues. This makes it easier for potential sponsors to plan and utilize the advertising budget.