Esports Organizations: Raising And Spending Money

TrAiDoS

Germany238 Posts

May 23 2026 12:43 GMT

Hi guys,

How does esports organizations raise money, and what do they spend it on? This research article covers Venture Capital fundraising, and the current difficulties of the industry. Here's the full article. Enjoy.

[DISCLAIMER]: The article is written for my weekly newsletter, and published on my website. A new episode comes out every Sunday (directly into your inbox and on my website).

Have a great Sunday/week ahead,
Christian

TelecoM

United States10782 Posts

May 25 2026 04:50 GMT

Awesome, thanks for sharing brother

JimmyJRaynor

Canada17682 Posts

May 25 2026 14:02 GMT

i watched esports sponsorship money get spent close up. For the CraftCup, it was throwaway money that had already been budgeted to be spent. The financial guy botched his spending projections and had not spent enough money that year. Afraid he would get a lower marketing budget the next year he threw a bunch of cash at the "CraftCup". That is how the CraftCup was born. Fortunately, there were lots of CraftCup broadcasts out there so it appeared at a quick glance it was money well spent.

Generally speaking, esports sponsorship is a waste of money.

EDIT: for completeness, it started off as the ConquerCup.

TrAiDoS

Germany238 Posts

May 26 2026 12:47 GMT

On May 25 2026 23:02 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
i watched esports sponsorship money get spent close up. For the CraftCup, it was throwaway money that had already been budgeted to be spent. The financial guy botched his spending projections and had not spent enough money that year. Afraid he would get a lower marketing budget the next year he threw a bunch of cash at the "CraftCup". That is how the CraftCup was born. Fortunately, there were lots of CraftCup broadcasts out there so it appeared at a quick glance it was money well spent.

Generally speaking, esports sponsorship is a waste of money.

EDIT: for completeness, it started off as the ConquerCup.

Cool insight. I bet it was close to the end of the year? This kind of behavior is called December Fever. As you pointed out, people are afraid of getting fewer money the next quarter/year if they don't spend it. That's why it gets thrown away at the end of the quarter/year.

Esports is never cost effective. Companies are only net positive when a) people buy stuff in-game (micro-transactions in League or Counter-Strike), b) the inflow from products/services is high (gambling), or c) the companies are trying to reach the younger generation to impact their consume behavior long-term (once the teens have jobs and can spend money on cars etc.) or gain market share (chairs, keyboards, mice...). A mixture of all the above too, ofc.

Cheers.

Please or register to reply.

Esports Organizations: Raising And Spending Money

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming