League of Legends: Reborn in Season 3, Tuning the Entire League

Chapter 92: The Earthquake in the Esports Industry Caused by a Million-Dollar Sponsorship.

Jiang Ming is never stingy when it comes to promotions and raises, nor does he compare his previous performance to others. Those self-centered people who think they are solely responsible for their achievements and that others are just doing odd jobs, and who believe that everyone else except themselves is an MVP, will never go far.

Over the course of several months, from selecting a team location and decorating the facilities to designing and contacting people for team uniforms, and even pulling strings to modify the base vehicle, it was almost all done by Senior Sister alone. She deserves a lot of credit for NXG's success today.

Jiang Ming would not neglect to improve the other party's treatment just because the two had a good relationship.

After all, without the advantage of foresight, compared to the other party's superior action and network building, he would be more like a 3.0-rated lazy winner.

Ahem, I've been playing too much League of Legends and I'm getting a bit too focused on my rating. You can't do things like that; if you're too concerned about ratings, you'll become alienated.

In fact, what Jiang Ming admired most about Lin Jingyi was that she was very clear about her own position and did not act arrogantly or conceitedly because of her important role in the club. She understood very well that NXG's success today, or rather, the opportunity for her to develop her abilities as a junior in college, was all thanks to the platform built by Jiang Ming.

"Therefore, having such a partner is something that many people would love to do but never do."

……

Kaixin Internet Cafe on Zhujiang Road!
Ever since the owner accepted the suggestion from internet users to use his 100-inch screen in the center of the internet cafe to play various competition videos or ranked matches of high-level players, the daily customer flow has been overwhelming.

Even late at night, dozens of people were still sitting in front of the big screen watching the live game, glancing at the seats on either side from time to time, hoping that those who weren't staying up all night would log off soon.

Looking around the computers in the internet cafe, apart from a few showing chat, ship battles, and QQ Speed, the vast majority of the screens were filled with players battling it out in Summoner's Rift.

"Team fight, team fight, stop split pushing. Your whole family is in the bottom lane, huh? Prioritize Baron."

"Come on, come on, four-man gank, four-man gank, kill the enemy, take the tower, then take the dragon, destroy the crystal and earn merit!"

"With a superior economy and better equipment, the enemy is timid and cowardly when they want to surrender."

"Haha, brother, you have great writing skills. I'll also write one: Kill people, take towers, and then take the dragon. Keep counter-jungling and controlling the map. Go straight for the enemy's stronghold and destroy the crystal. My teammates give me a thumbs up and I am the champion."

"Alas, rainbow!"

"color!"

"Hey, bro on the other side, we're matched together! Oh yeah, that's the guy who's arrogant and unreliable, I'm playing Juggernaut."

"What, help you gank bot? There's no way we can gank bot. JM already said that ADCs just need to farm well in the early game. This game, our top and mid laners are both carry players. We'll crush the enemy team and then come to bot lane to help you."

"Stay calm and don't die!"

"Buy wards, buy wards! If you don't buy wards before a team fight, it's hard to tell where the enemy is moving, you know? As for the minion wave, how many times have I told you? Deal with the minion wave before a team fight. If you leave it there, you're just wasting gold. If you push it to the enemy, it's a loss for them."

"Hey, support, come help quickly! The enemy mid, top, and jungle are a tough opponent. Just let the AD carry play alone in the bot lane. We'll give him the resources in the mid-game."

The influence of professional matches has eventually reached the matches of ordinary players. If NXG only had a slight advantage, it might not have had such a big impact.

The ability to consistently dominate professional teams of the same level in several matches has inspired countless ordinary players to admire them. This is especially true when one or two players occasionally appear on the side who have climbed one or even two ranks by learning the playstyles of JM and NXG, at which point a terrifying multiplier effect begins.

From a small group to a larger group, and eventually even the entire server, players were constantly talking about game management and minion waves.

Oh, and there's also the slogan "Team First, Ranking Up is Paramount."

Although many people do not understand the deeper meaning, it does not stop them from consciously imitating NXG's playing style.

It's important to understand that most players aren't exceptionally talented. When a channel for improvement through experience and hard work is presented to them, even if it's just a game, people will still join in without hesitation.

Many players have also noticed something else: being a fan of NXG makes you feel very prestigious.

Communication between boys is fine, but when it comes to communication between boys and girls of the opposite sex, when it comes to hobbies, it used to be really embarrassing to say e-sports, not to mention the various abstract posed photos of game players. Now, the six members of the NXG team are all like celebrities, which has solved the problem of them being unable to talk about their hobbies in a certain sense.

Look, this esports club, founded by top students from Jinling University, is incredibly strong, and the players are super handsome...

Perhaps even Jiang Ming himself didn't expect that his desire to change the LPL environment would start from the ranked games of ordinary players in the lower ranks.

LPL becoming an operational league... Just imagining it is absurd enough.

"Hey everyone, check out Tencent News!"

Suddenly, a gasp came from somewhere in the internet cafe.

"Penguin News?"

"What's wrong? There aren't any matches today, or is JM and his NXG up to something again?"

"Last time it was pretty college girls giving away free support gifts, what's this time...?"

Upon hearing the exclamation, players whose matches had not yet started, driven by curiosity, either opened a webpage or logged into QQ to wait for the pop-up window to appear automatically.

However, the next second, the internet cafe was filled with various similar and shocking sounds of traditional Chinese opera.

"Fuck!"

"What the hell?"

"Can someone tell me if this is true or false?"

"One million? You must be kidding!"

The pop-up news from Tencent Esports featured a top article titled "A Giant Bombshell in the Esports World in 13 Years: Logitech, Daliyuan, Panpan, and Three Squirrels Donate Millions in Sponsorship Fees to NXG, Setting a New Record for Commercial Sponsorship in the LOL Circle!"

"It is reported that the LPL (League of Legends Pro League) league, NXG eSports Club, recently reached a cooperation agreement with several companies. Insiders revealed that the total sponsorship amount is as high as several million yuan..."

All I can say is that the editors at Tencent News are very good at sensationalism and how to better confuse concepts. These are clearly commercial sponsorships of completely different levels, and the amounts are not outrageous when separated, but they have put them together and given them a high-class title.

They accurately grasped the audience's psychology: they didn't care about whether it was a sponsorship or not; what mattered was the million-dollar sponsorship fee mentioned in the headline.

【? ? ? 】

[False advertising. A gaming team receiving millions in sponsorship fees? This is no joke.]

[Hilarious! If they really had that much money, would those esports teams still be living in internet cafes, eating instant noodles, and struggling to pay their salaries?]

My cousin used to be a gamer, and back then he only earned a pitiful 1,000 yuan a month.

The problem is, the news reports clearly state the specific sponsors of the NXG club. They can't just blatantly fabricate information like that, can they? And whether NXG has other sponsors or not is obvious just by looking at their team uniforms.

[If I remember correctly, NXG already had sponsors from YY platform and Youchen Foods on their jerseys during the LPL preseason. Even if there were a few more, it wouldn't be surprising.] [What's surprising isn't the sponsorships themselves, but the amounts. When did esports teams start receiving such outrageous sponsorship fees?]

This is blatant false advertising. How could a gaming team possibly receive sponsorship fees of up to a million? That's absurd!

Whether players believe or doubt this message, this push notification is like a powerful depth charge, crashing into the esports community and creating ripples that have sparked widespread discussion and attention.

Just as players were questioning its authenticity, a post from NXG eSports Club completely stirred their restless hearts.

NXG Esports Club @ Logitech @ Panpan Foods @ Daliyuan @ Three Squirrels:

"Dear Logitech... It is an honor to walk hand in hand with you! Thank you for your trust and support of our NXG eSports Club. Your generous sponsorship has injected strong momentum into our journey to realize our dreams."

Since the establishment of our League of Legends division, our team has upheld our passion and dedication to esports, striving relentlessly on the field and seeking to surpass ourselves. Your outstanding achievements and innovative spirit in the industry have always inspired us to move forward. This collaboration is undoubtedly a perfect fusion of esports dreams and commercial power…

First, there was the League of Legends forum, where the number of discussion threads about NXG receiving a million-dollar sponsorship fee was so large that it almost crashed their servers.

A post titled "Rational Discussion: What Level Does It Mean for NXG, a Team Without a Championship, to Receive a Million-Dollar Sponsorship?" garnered over a thousand replies in less than an hour.

The topic also climbed into the top ten on Weibo's trending searches within just a few hours, generating countless related entries.

#NXG Receives Million-Dollar Sponsorship Fund#
#Esports and Business Partnerships#
#The frenzy in the gaming industry: Have we been neglecting this emerging sector too much?#
#A 19-year-old college student's business empire: Why is an esports club so sought after?#
#Jinling University's key supported project: Will esports be the future of football for young people?#
In the faculty apartment of the School of Management at Jinling University, Yu Qun, who was already fast asleep, was abruptly awakened by a barrage of more than a dozen phone calls from a close friend.

"Your student is truly remarkable," a robust man joked on the other end of the phone.

Yu Qun: "???"

After Yu Qun figured out the whole story, he felt the same joy and emotion as the middle-aged man on the other end of the phone.

A million-dollar sponsorship is not a significant amount for them; it might even be less than a quarter's research grant allocated to a senior professor within the institute. They have also seen business geniuses of the same age who earn far more.

But the key point is that this money comes from a completely new field – esports!

To be precise, it is an emerging industry that has already taken off abroad, but is still in its infancy in China. Moreover, its own students have successfully put the monetization of traffic into practice, and it has the potential to continue to expand.

The word "new" implies infinite possibilities, and it also means that they are at the forefront of the country, and even ahead of those two hooligans in the capital.

The political value it can provide is of paramount importance to this group of people.

"Old Yu, we need to keep up with the pace too!"

"I'll start working on the report right away. The child sent all the documents to me last week."

"Oh right, he also has an application for support for a snack chain brand. I'll send it to you tomorrow."

With his heart burning with excitement and his enthusiasm for the task at hand rising again, Yu Qun was wide awake. His hands and feet moved with the agility of someone in their thirties, easily rolling off the bed, getting dressed, and heading straight to the study.

……

If those outside the circle feel shock, disbelief, or some other strange emotions...

The reactions of all the major LPL esports teams were very consistent.

Hmm, they're all eating lemons in perfect unison!

"No, why should he?"

Inside the WE base, Ruofeng, who was eating instant noodles with an extra sausage in his plastic bucket, stared at the news on his computer, unable to accept it. "Is this reasonable?"

Back then, when he was running for sponsorships for his team, he drank bottled water, ate the cheapest fried rice from roadside stalls, and even had to take the subway to and from the games, eventually falling asleep on the ground from exhaustion.

It hasn't been long, and JM and his NXG have already secured millions in sponsorship!
You have to understand that WE, as the regional champion team, is still just a small team with three or four members. What makes NXG so special?
At the neighboring PE club, manager Xiao Shou stared blankly at his phone. He had just sent his boss a celebratory message about the club securing a sponsorship.

[Boss, we've landed our first sponsorship... even though it's just a pig feed brand, it's a great start.]

what!what!
Logitech and pig feed!

Tens of thousands of dollars compared to one million!

……

Huayi Spider's underground training room.

Late at night, only three of the five computers were lit up; the other two had been tidied up, leaving nothing on their desks.

"Brother Luo, I've thought about it and I'm not going to insist anymore. My family found me a factory job in Yuhang, with room and board included."

Leon, who was to the right of the white crescent moon, spoke up.

"when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow, the train is at dawn the day after tomorrow."

"Old Chen, what are your plans?" White Crescent looked at Dull, the support player beside her.

After losing two games in a row in the preseason and losing their chance to advance, the parent company completely stopped investing in the team, which is now on the verge of disbanding.

Oh, I should say they've already disbanded. The mid laner and top laner left the underground base two days ago, even though they still had half a month's rent left.

"Me?" Slightly chubby Dull thought for a moment, "I don't want to work in a factory. I might find an internet cafe to continue doing some order processing, or see if any esports teams need players and give it a try."

"Old Bai, you shouldn't insist anymore."

"Esports is all about talent. We don't have exceptional talent, nor do we have the professional training methods like NXG, so we simply can't achieve anything significant."

"I'll think about it again."

White Crescent sighed deeply. From the high spirits he felt when he joined the team last year to the desolation of the team falling apart now, he felt an indescribable pain in his heart.

My gaze shifted to the computer screen, where the headline about NXG receiving a million-dollar sponsorship was dazzling and enviable.

"But if I don't play professionally, what else can I do?"

　Today's update is basically revealing the outline of this book. Please continue to support it. There's just so much to write about, and it's impossible to please everyone. Some like watching the games, some like watching coaching, some like watching off-field reactions, and others like business development. It's hard for me to say I can satisfy everyone's tastes. Of course, if I had the ability to update 50,000 words a day, none of these problems would be an issue. Unfortunately, I don't. Right now, I'm still working part-time, and writing over 10,000 words a day already leaves me dizzy and exhausted. Any more and my body really can't handle it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)