Esports Giant TSM Suspends $210M Partnership with FTX

CoinDesk· Joe Brady

The largest sponsorship deal in the history of esports is no more.

Top gaming brand TSM announced on Wednesday that it has cut ties with crypto exchange FTX, suspending its once $210 million partnership indefinitely.

“After monitoring the evolving situation and discussing internally, we’re suspending our partnership with FTX effective immediately,” the company tweeted out in a statement. “This means that FTX branding will no longer appear on any of our org, team and player social media profiles, and will also be removed from our player jerseys.”

TSM did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.

TSM first inked the record sponsorship deal in June 2021. It’s just the latest major sports brand to cut ties with FTX after the exchange’s bankruptcy filing last week, following in the footsteps of the National Basketball Association’s Miami Heat, which terminated its $135 million stadium naming rights deal with FTX last week.

TSM was unable to immediately remove the FTX name from its Twitter handle, citing new verification rules set by Twitter Blue, the app’s premium subscription service. But within two hours, the company was able to make the change.

While brands and institutions are scrambling to remove the FTX logo from their products, many of the exchange’s pricy deals remain intact, at least for now. Among them, the well-known umpire patch deal with Major League Baseball and stadium naming rights contract with UC Berkeley’s football stadium.