Clubs across Europe exploring esports opportunities through new joint venture between Aser Ventures and Ninjas in Pyjamas
Alamy
Aser Ventures – which owns the Eleven Group and Leeds United, and is led by Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani – last month launched a joint venture with esports organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP).
The new company, called Shinobi Sports, aims “to help traditional clubs capitalise on esports opportunities”.
So far they have seen a high level interest, according to Danny Menken, group chief business development officer at Eleven Sports and the Shinobi Sports CEO.
The move follows Leeds United’s run to the final in last season’s ePremier League, when the club partnered with NIP to develop its esports strategy from scratch.
Leeds received 1,400 applications to represent the club – the highest in the competition, and the final was the most viewed match of the tournament, with a viewership of more than 30,000 on Twitch.
15 November 2021 - 2:24 PM
By 2025 the number of esports and games viewers globally is expected to reach more than 1 billion, up from 800 million by the end of this year, according to a report published in March by research and analytics firm Juniper Research.
The company forecasts that the global esports and games streaming business will be worth more than US$3.5 billion by 2025, up from US$2.1 billion in 2021.
While esports has often been perceived as a threat to football, with numbers like that i
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