Cover-Credits:
Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere (NAVI) had a historic run at the recently concluded ESL Pro League Season 14. With their win at the tournament, NAVI became only the third CS:GO team to win a season of Intel Grand Slam. Talking about the financial side of things in and around this tournament, Yevhen "HarisPilton" Zolotarov - CEO of NAVI in an interview with Alexander Inglot revealed that the organization has earned more than $2,000,000 USD this year for being a partner team with ESL.
He talks about a lot of other things as well like catering to sponsors, exposure to brands, the latest documentary dedicated to Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, and more.
NAVI CEO reveals rewards gained by them out of their ESL Pro League partnership
Multiple CS:GO teams had signed a long-term partnership with ESL called the 'Louvre Agreement' in 2020, which encompassed both the ESL Pro League and the ESL Pro Tour. The advantage of signing this deal included direct invites to each and every season of ESL Pro League, while the organizations also receive a share of the revenue from these tournaments.
With regards to this arrangement, Zolotarov said that NAVI gained the benefits of being a business partner with ESL by receiving a cut of both ESL Pro League Season 13 and Season 14.
All together this takes us to more than $2 million in earnings from our participation this year and gives us so much more momentum to keep growing and investing back in our organisation.Yevhen "HarisPilton" Zolotarov - CEO of NAVI
He pointed out that the consistency shown by the NAVI players was phenomenal and it really paid off, as they walked away with the prize money from both ESL Pro League Season 14 and Intel Grand Slam Season 3, which totals to about $1,195,000 USD.
Zolotarov goes on to talk about brand exposure that their sponsors like Monster Energy, Logitech, Puma, Raid Shoadow Legend, and many more receive via NAVI.
NAVI and our sponsors are not just getting exposure in Ukraine or Russia because of our geography; we get coverage in France when we play Vitality, in Scandinavia when we go up against ENCE and Heroic, in North America when we play Evil Geniuses. The league takes our name and our sponsors all over the world.Yevhen "HarisPilton" Zolotarov - CEO of NAVI
Talking about the recently launched documentary on s1mple, Zolotarov explained that through special content of that nature NAVI connects with the viewers on another level and fans can get a glimpse at how NAVI support s1mple, leading to him excelling and thriving in this environment.
With the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 back on track, all eyes will be on NAVI who are the favourites to walk away as the champions.
