Rivalry Increases Esports Presence with Grayhound Partnership

Rivalry is one of Ontario’s iGaming regulated sports betting sites. The sportsbook is unique because it places an emphasis on Esports. While players can place bets on major sports such as basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, the sportsbook emphasizes Esports through its content and partnerships.

After spending two minutes on the Rivalry website, it’s clear they put a lot of focus on the Esports market and Esports betting. That continued last week as Rivalry “strengthened its partnership with Grayhound Gaming.”

Rivalry continued to increase its presence in Esports last week. According to an article by Esports Insider on Wednesday, Rivalry “strengthened its partnership” with Grayhound Gaming. Rivalry’s partnership with Grayhound Gaming will allow the company to showcase its logo on Grayhound Gaming’s jersey and social media, according to the article. Grayhound Gaming is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team under the name Grayhound.Rivalry. 

Rivalry and Grayhound Gaming will also host meet-and-greets with fans, according to the article. Rivalry has already formed a few new Esports partnerships over the last year. Rivalry and Blacklist International announced the companies will join together as Blacklist Rivalry to form a new Dota 2 team in December of 2022, according to a news release on Wednesday.

Blacklist Rivalry Partnership 

Rivalry is a sports betting and sports media company with an emphasis on Esports, and Blacklist International is an Esports division of Tier One Entertainment, an Esports entertainment company. Rivalry assists Blacklist by adding its “content production and creative resources to build fandom and awareness,” according to the article. The newly formed Blacklist Rivalry will compete in the Dota Pro Circuit in 2023. 

In the article, Rivalry CEO Steven Salz explained the importance of the partnership with Blacklist International in a quote. “Our partnership with Tier One represents another meaningful opportunity to support and engage with the Dota 2 community in Southeast Asia. We’re looking forward to working alongside its Blacklist team division to highlight the journey of these talented players with premium content for fans, as well as ensuring the team is equipped for championship-caliber success,” Salz said.

Rivalry’s Partnerships with Players and Content Creators

Rivalry is partnered with Matthew “Wardell” Yu, a Valorant player. Rivalry has a list of influencers who are esports players and streamers that is more than 100 people long, according to its website. Rivalry continues to expand as it takes “A Red Bull-esque approach to partnerships, meaning that it partners with a large number of high-profile individuals to raise awareness of its products,” according to the article. 

Rivalry is also partnered with Bianca “Biancake” Yao, according to Rivalry’s website. Biancake is a Dota 2 personality and has over 75 thousand subscribers on Youtube. Rivalry doesn’t list all of its partners on the Rivalry sports betting site.