T-Wolves Gaming, the hottest team in the NBA 2K League, took a heat check off the sticks this week with the announcement of a partnership with Raynor, adding the franchise to a growing list for the gaming chair manufacturer.
Raynor will provide the team with gaming chairs. The group becomes the latest sponsor of the franchise, joining Alienware, Hyper-X and SCUF as endemic sponsors. T-Wolves Gaming also has one non-endemic sponsor in the Minnesota lottery.
The Raynor Group already sponsors the entire NBA 2K League and has official chair provider deals with two other franchises, 76ers GC and Cavs Legion GC.
Snagging this sponsorship leaves little left in the way of endemic deals for the franchise to secure. T-Wolves Gaming’s training facility is located in Mayo Clinic Square, so a future healthcare provider deal with the location sponsor is possible. Mayo Clinic has been a sponsor of the NBA Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx in the past.
One potential endemic sponsorship area that only one of the franchises has taken advantage of to this point is hydration. Pistons GT has a hydration sponsorship with BodyArmor. The league has no official hydration partner.
Gatorade is the presenting/title sponsor of the NBA’s developmental league, the G-League, which has a number of ties to the NBA 2K League. Gatorade is the official sports drink of the NBA and WNBA as a whole as well. It would seem that PepsiCo would have a first right of refusal based on those existing relationships.
The league just made its first snack food partnership deal last week, adding Snickers to its broadcast sponsor list. Time will tell if individual franchises start following suit with their own snack food sponsorships, as that area is considered endemic to the esports industry like the Raynor Group’s gaming chairs.
For the Raynor Group, a dream scenario would be a 76ers GC vs. T-Wolves Gaming Finals. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but adding another NBA 2K League franchise to its tally is already a win for the Raynor Group.
