The official League of Legends Dutch and Belgian Leagues have announced European health club operator Basic-Fit as the main sponsor of both competitions for the 2021 season.
As a result of the agreement, Basic-Fit and the competitions will collaborate on content and other activations throughout the season. Both the Dutch and Belgium Leagues are operated by Benelux esports agency META.
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Birger De Geyter, the Director of Sales at META, shared: “Fitness & health is something often overlooked when talking about gaming and esports, but the importance of it has been rising over the past years.
“A partner that exemplifies that and has similar goals to change the perception of combining a healthy lifestyle and physical condition with high-level esports is a perfect fit for us.”
Alongside the Basic-Fit partnership, both the Dutch and Belgium Leagues have secured a range of regional partners. Chocolate brand KitKat has specifically sponsored the Dutch League whereas Proximus, AUDI, Burger King, and Red Bull are partnered with the Belgian League. Pringles and Gaming PC brand Omen are also sponsors for both competitions.
Kevin Ayeni, Basic-Fit’s Marketing Manager Benelux, also spoke on the partnership: “The four pillars of performance in Esports – Physical, Psychological, Nutrition and Recovery – are all linked with fitness and healthy habits. As the fitness experts, we at Basic-Fit strive to make esport [athletes] love their fitness habits and move towards a happy and fit life.”
Basic-Fit operates over 900 health clubs in Europe, spanning from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Spain.
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Coralie Louis, a Club Marketer at Basic-Fit, told Esports Insider: “We were looking for a platform, outside of traditional media, where our target group is active in large numbers and we noticed that year after year the number of eyeballs on esports increases which is a great opportunity for us to reach a new, engaged audience.
“On top of that, Basic-Fit also wants to help ‘debunk’ the ‘traditional’ image of gamers. Even for professional gamers, it is important that they have a good physical condition in order to feel great and concentrate better, resulting in improved performances while gaming.”
META operates a number of leagues outside of the Riot Games’ official League of Legends competitions, this includes the Rainbow 6 Benelux League, Belgian College League, and newly announced betFirst Elite Series CS:GO league.
Esports Insider says: Health and wellness is a major priority in the Benelux esports culture, not only with professional esports athletes but also to those on a path to pro. A partnership with a fitness centre makes complete sense for the region and will perhaps further the mainstream acceptance of the industry in the Netherlands and Belgium.