Modern Times Group will split off its esports/gaming portfolio into a new company, while the German Olympic Committee remains firm against esports recognition.
Missed any of the biggest esports business news last week? The TEO Monday Morning Briefing recaps the top headlines from the last seven days!
MTG to Split Into Two Listed Entities
Modern Times Group (MTGÂ 
), the Swedish media firm that acquired a majority stake in ESL in 2015, and the entirety of DreamHack  that same year, has announced it will split off into two separately listed companies. This follows on from a failed $2.5B takeover bid from Danish telecommunications TDC to acquire MTG’s Nordic TV businesses, which will be part of a separate entity listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
While we won’t feel the esports impact of this for some time, the idea of MTG becoming a full-on digital company with an emphasis on esports and gaming is fairly significant.
Facebook and Amazon Compete for Esports Crowd with New Developer Tools
As part of last week’s Game Developer Conference (GDC), Facebook and Amazon have both announced new tools for video game developers, both with potential esports applications.
For Facebook, it’s a software development kit that allows games to be streamed directly to Facebook Live, a feature tested with the Paladins Premier League. Meanwhile Amazon will allow game makers to add tournaments and leagues directly to games, and even ship prize deliveries through the e-commerce giant.
Tennis Joins Virtual Sports Space with French Open Esports Tournament
Let’s list all the popular sports that are trying to make it in esports: basketball, hockey, European football, American football…anything missing? Well now the French Tennis Federation wants to host a competition around the unreleased game Tennis World Tour, with a final to be held at the French Open.
Perhaps the most noteworthy part of this news is that the series will be backed by the competition’s main sponsor, BNP Paribas.
Sponsorship/Partnership Round-Up
In partnership news, DreamHack is not only extending its 10-year relationship with Twitch with a new multi-year deal, but in Spain the company is also partnering with recruitment company Page Personnel to introduce career development opportunities at events, starting with DreamHack Valencia and DreamHack Sevilla.
Elsewhere, performance drink eNgage enters the Chinese market with a sponsorship deal with LGD Gaming, and eSports.com becomes the newest jersey sponsor for Astralis in a deal—sources close to it say—is worth $2M over three years.
German Olympic Committee Opposes Coalition Esports Agreement
Finally, when the new German coalition government formed, it pledged to support esports as an organized sport in the country. It’s one of the most significant movements of its kind in Europe, but it also faces a lot of hurdles, namely the German Olympic Committee, who last week called the attempt to integrate esports into Germany’s organized sports as the work of “specialist politicians†in the digital sector. We’ll update you further as the story progresses.
Source: https://esportsobserver.com/teo-monday-briefing-march-23-2018/
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