Astralis, the Danish pride has announced on twitter about their partnership with the german automobile manufacturer, Audi. Astralis announced the deal on Twitter. Xyp9x, later shared an image presenting an Audi branded team jersey.
“It’s fantastic news for esports and a validation of our world, that a non-endemic brand like Audi chooses to work with Astralis and Counter-Strike, I’ve been in esports for more than 10 years, and we only created Astralis a year ago. It’s a fantastic way to celebrate the anniversary today. I’m very thankful for the work RFRSH Entertainment has put into this, making it a possibility for Astralis to enter a partnership with Audi.” Astralis founder Frederik Byskov said in a statement to theScore esports.
#untaggable pic.twitter.com/fV5UICUMeq
— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) January 19, 2017
Interestingly, Astralis was founded in the year 2016 after they were dropped out by their former organization Team SoLoMid. TSM also very recently shut their CSGO division following unfavorable hindrances. It is not although sure as to how Audi lends their support to the Denmark roster.
Astralis, however, are not the first one to get sponsored by an industry-independent brand. Axe extended their partnership to NA orgs, TSM and Cloud9. NiP partnered with Betway. Vodafone, in the previous year, sponsored G2. VISA recently supported SK Gaming.
We're pretty proud of our new partner, welcome to CS:GO! pic.twitter.com/jVCG5Q2gsY
— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) January 19, 2017
High profile teams are gaining interest from big-time sponsors that see them as a great investment for advertising as these teams travel around the world playing CS:GO. And it’s not just companies jumping in on the investment train, but sports franchises such as the Miami Heat and their partnership with the Misfits. Industry experts are forecasting a large growth in esports in 2017 with a total revenue range anywhere between $750 million to $1 billion dollars.
