Every competitive gaming team out there wants to get sponsored with top of the line gear, servers, or even financial aid to get them to the top of the competition. Everyone has said it, that in order to be one of the best, you have to have the best equipment. If you look at many of the top teams out there today, they have top of the line technological leaders as sponsors. You may see names such as AMD, Intel, nVidia, ATI, etc because those are the leaders of their respective industry.

These companies usually sponsor well known teams that have put up results in the past. Usually a financial sponsorship along with product support is given to those teams. Financial support is necessary to be able to pay salaries and send players to events around the globe. After my management experience with a Norwegian team called Synergy Gaming that was at the top of the Norwegian scene, I’ve been at war with other teams that were attempting to get sponsors at the same time. It is a long process that if done right, it will get you great benefits.


In order to determine what kind of sponsorships are right for your team, you have to talk to the players to see what they want to accomplish and what their needs are. Most players want a gear sponsor to provide new mouse pads and the latest headsets. Some would like PC hardware sponsorships and others would like financial aid to get them to events. You don’t want to apply for a sponsorship your team won’t use as the players probably won’t keep the relationship between those sponsors. It is good to form a personal relationship and get to know the representative you talk to when you start to look for sponsorships. Companies don’t want to dump resources into a team that could possibly go under in a month or two. They want to be reassured that the team will be around and achieve success over the duration of the sponsorship agreement. If both your sponsors and your players are happy, you probably have found the right sponsorship to meet your players’ needs.


Usually when you find a sponsor you want to apply for, you want to already have some achievements under your belt. Also you want to have a list of events and competitions you will be taking part in. Sponsors are all about advertisement so they want to know where they will be getting their publicity. Another good thing to prepare is what you will be doing for them in return for their support. These things could be a logo on the website, product reviews on the gear they send you, an image on your T-Shirts, and many other things if you get creative. If you have a creative way of getting their name out there, they will be interested. Don’t make up things to put on your application that you will end up not doing because it won’t look good for your team or organization and it will reflect you badly. Don’t make up achievements either because most of the time they will check up on them to make sure they are valid. Sometimes it is good to do a follow up email to check on the status of your sponsorship, just like you would for a job interview.


When you say you will do something in return for your partnership, you better do it otherwise problems will arise. When a sponsor agrees to a partnership, they expect your end to be held up with whatever you promised them in return. If you don’t, expect to see the partnership end. It is good to have your players involved in fulfilling these promises especially with equipment reviews. If your players give feedback on your homepage about products, more people will listen to these “superstar gamers” instead of Joe Shmoe who is some random guy. Fans will take the players’ words more to heart and the sponsors will appreciate player involvement to promote their product or service. I know when people look for game servers; they usually see who the big teams are using because they use the best, right? Of course they do, *wink wink*. Sponsors will appreciate that players care about the services they are receiving and it makes your organization look better if they players have a positive attitude and show the gratitude towards a company that puts resources into their team. It is a plus for everyone involved.



In order to keep the sponsors you have, you need to produce results. You can’t expect a company to keep dumping resources into you if you are inactive and don’t produce winning results. Business is business and that’s what the war of sponsorships truly is. If there is a more appealing team, they will drop you in a heartbeat and pick up the other team to sponsor. It is good to keep in contact with your sponsor about team plans and accomplishments so they know what you are up to. Updates are a great way to stay close so both parties know what is going on. Communication is key in any business agreement and that is just what a sponsorship is, a business agreement. If both parties keep good contact, the sponsor will trust your management skills more and more.


So there you have some basic tips to the sponsorship process to help further your team to become a top competitor. These are just a few things I have used in the past with Synergy Gaming to get sponsorships and they have worked with me. Hopefully all you who wish to become managers have learned something and will use it to help your teams grow. Just remember, it is every man for himself out there in the sponsorship pool, make your organization look the strongest and the most magnificent, and you will have the milk and honey at the end of the day for your team.