Riot was on a $96 million sponsorship deal from 2022 to 2028 for NA LCS with crypto exchange FTX and had only received $6.25m in 2022 when the company filed for bankruptcy last month.
Tweets from esports journalist MonteCristo:
Riot has filed a motion to get out of the partnership deal
Riot partnered up with FTX on August 21st, 2021 in what was meant to be a 7-year sponsorship for the NA LCS. It remains unclear how much they received in 2021, but Riot has only received 6.25 million dollars in the first half of 2022 when FTX – the third largest crypto exchange – filed for chapter 11 on 11/11.
The company’s rapid downfall started only 2 days prior when a finance report published by CoinDesk revealed the exchange’s shady relationship with Alameda Research, both owned by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. Almost immediately afterwards, Binance (the largest crypto exchange) quickly announced the sales of all its FTX’s native block-chain token FTT and withdrew a rescue bail-out.
The ensuing mass exodus from the exchange left FTX insolvent and unable to pay back all its clients. The aftermath was felt across the crypto world, and Sam Bankman-Fried was subsequently arrested in the Bahamas earlier this month.
The loss of more than $12 million a year will prove to be devastating for the LCS in the coming years, an even bigger loss than its new controversial LoL esports schedule, said MonteCristo.
