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Bud Light is set to sponsor a group of eSports players across a number of games.
At DreamHack Austin, which kicks off next week, Bud Light will reveal their initial list of potential players to sponsor, which will feature players from Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm. After the names have been revealed fans will be able to vote on which players they want to see become part of the Bud Light All-Stars group.
Voting will run between May 7th and June 4th, with the five successful players being announced at E3 on June 14th. After that the Bud Light All-Stars will be featured in Bud Light streams on Twitch throughout the summer and a behind the scenes video series on the Machinima network. Then at TwitchCon in September the players will compete in a three-round elimination tournament, although exact details on this are yet to be announced.
"This is such an exciting area for us," said Jesse Wofford, Bud Light’s digital sports marketing manager. "The growth in (eSports) is huge and this is really the right time for us to get in. We have identified it as a great space because, similar to how we identify in the NFL with fans, eSports fans have that same passion."
"We are a brand that connects with fans across sports and we’re always looking forward to those new opportunities that will help us to engage and connect with consumers going forward," said Bud Light vice president Alex Lambrecht. "This is an ongoing program. It speaks to the DNA of the community and how the community is engaging with each other. There’s a lot of learning from other sports arenas but it’s very important that we make it very authentic to eSports."
