Guild Esports PLC (LSE:GILD, OTCQB:GULDF) has announced a three-year sponsorship and merchandising deal with Hummel International Sport & Leisure (trading as hummel), a global sports and fashion brand and manufacturer of high-quality sportswear, and hummel’s UK licence and rights holder, SportsPro.
The sponsorship will generate up to £700,000 of revenues for Guild over the duration of the contract, and appoints hummel as Guild's official technical kit partner, receiving exposure on the front of Guild's team jerseys.
Guild-branded apparel will be sold online at hummel's website and potentially at the high-street outlets of major retailers in the UK and Ireland, subject to confirmation in due course.
hummel will gain exclusive rights to the production and sale of Guild-branded apparel.
Guild will receive a double-digit share of the merchandising revenues sold through hummel, including performance-linked payments based on certain sales targets being achieved.
The combined value of the sponsorship and merchandising deal is estimated at approximately £1mln over the three-year contract term.
Ina statement, Jasmine Skee, chief executive of Guild Esports, said: "We are delighted to welcome hummel, an internationally renowned sportswear brand, to the Guild family.
“This partnership not only brings more sponsorship revenue but also marks a step change in our merchandising efforts, with the potential to enable our fans to buy a premium-quality range of Guild-branded products through some of the UK's biggest retailers for the first time.
“We are proud to have the hummel name on our players' jerseys as they compete across the world's biggest esports tournaments," he added.
Allan Vad Nielsen, chief executive of hummel, commented: "We are thrilled to welcome Guild Esports to the hummel family. As a brand, we have always been committed to developing local communities and promoting diversity and inclusion, and we see these values reflected in Guild's approach to esports.
Chris Kirby, chief executive of SportsPro, said: "I'm really excited by this partnership, as it's a great synergy, aligning many important values across both companies.”
Guild terminates Bitstamp agreement
Also on Tuesday, Guild announced that its £4.5mln, three-year global sponsorship deal with leading cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp will terminate on January 2024, one year earlier than the original agreement.
The global teams organisation and lifestyle brand assured investors that the early termination of the contract will have no impact on Guild's expected revenues for the current year ending September 30, 2023.
Guild noted that the release of inventory and other rights from the Bitstamp deal will enable the company to pursue similar contracts with other sponsors.