Money is often thought of as synonymous with power and influence – in sports as elsewhere – but it’s not often we see such a clear example of a sponsor brazenly attempting to assert their influence as we’ve seen recently in China.
Alisports, the sports wing of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, last year announced a $150 million investment into eSports through a partnership with the International eSports Federation (IeSF). That was followed up by a 10-year deal to promote the Chinese city of Changzhou as an eSports hub, with the city set to host a number of World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) events, offering total prize money of $5.5 million, while another Chinese city, Suzhou, was also designated by Alisports as a major international sports city, with eSports also a central part of that aim.
Meanwhile, the IeSF is aiming to get eSports recognized as an official sport and has also lobbied the IOC over possible future inclusion in the Olympics, with the IeSF also looking to be accepted into the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), which links more than 90 Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, as a first step on the road towards Olympic recognition.
That’s understandable, given that the IeSF is the sport’s governing body. In fact, you could argue that it would be failing in its duty to its members if it did not do such a thing. What is more surprising, however, is that Alibaba and its offshoot Alisports is taking such an active role in the process.
But it seems to be working.