If BLG wins the championship, who will be the big winner in business?
Xiang Xianzhi
2026.11.11 14:35
· From Shanghai
Full text 3537 words
Text | Xiang Xianzhi
Faker opened the champagne early this time.
Teacher Da Fei said, "It's a pity that they will meet us in the semi-finals." The words are still ringing in my ears, but Teacher Da Fei will not be seen in New York.
BLG sent T1 out of the World Championship 3:1. The miracle of one wearing three may be about to happen. To rebuild the glory of LPL, there is only one final step left. (No shit, but there must be such a timeline)
This S-tournament, whether BLG can reach the end or not, is almost the most successful one in terms of business landscape. Although the final result is still uncertain, defeating the inner demon SKT will also bring unprecedented attention to the finals.
As the owner of BLG, Station B can not only receive team sponsorships, but also sell advertisements based on game content, but the cost of raising a team must also be calculated. Thunderbird is more direct and announces the winning rewards in advance: If BLG does not win the championship, eligible users will receive refunds and keep their products.
So if BLG wins, what can these companies gain?
What to expect from Thunderbirds
The closest player to this event was Thunderbird. It can also be said that Thunderbird’s bet was a bit good this time.
On October 23, Thunderbird offered a promotion for GT Max bilibili limited edition glasses: if purchased within the specified time, if BLG does not win the championship, eligible users can get back the actual amount paid and keep the glasses; if BLG wins the championship, this refund will not be triggered. The reported subsidy price is 2,294.15 yuan.
This is quite attractive to fans who originally wanted to buy but were a little hesitant. If you buy this pair of co-branded glasses, even if BLG loses, you can at least get your money back.
On October 23, media reported that Tmall and Douyin pages showed that 56 and 69 items had been sold respectively. There are 125 pieces in total, which is equivalent to about 290,000 yuan based on the current acquisition price of 2,294.15 yuan. This is an estimated amount based on public quotations. The actual transaction volume depends on the actual price paid for each order, and JD.com and subsequent sales are not included.
If BLG wins the championship, refunds will be waived for orders that meet the event conditions, and Thunderbird will receive sales revenue as usual. But including orders that would otherwise be completed would overestimate the new profits brought about by promotions. Only the additional purchases promoted by the activity, after deducting the goods, channels and fulfillment expenses, are the new money it earns; additional gifts and discounts from the original orders will also be deducted.
Thunderbird’s activity rules also set limits: the daily quantity is limited, and each user and platform are limited to one order. It limits the number of orders that may need to be refunded if the title is not won. After the refund, the glasses remain in the hands of the user, and the cost of goods and fulfillment has been incurred; if you miss a batch of quotas, you will have to bear less of a batch of glasses that may be given away for free. Limited batches can also urge users to place orders as soon as possible. Official details did not announce the specific number of units per day.
In 2018, Vantage made a business deal that can be used as a reference: "If the French team wins the championship, Vantage will refund the full amount." According to the company's preliminary statistics at the time, offline and online retail sales of all categories during the event are expected to exceed 700 million yuan and 300 million yuan respectively, while the designated products participating in refunds are approximately 50 million yuan and 29 million yuan. Products subject to refunds accounted for only about 8% of total retail sales during the same period. Responsibility for offline refunds belongs to the dealer, and online responsibility belongs to the headquarters.
Vantage also explained in the announcement that after the refund, the actual cost of the refund is the product cost and part of the promotional expenses, which is lower than the retail price of the product. It uses the promise of free orders on some products to attract business for the entire brand, keeping the expenditure within the annual budget. The trigger conditions for Thunderbird are opposite, but they can also rely on limited models and quotas to control investment: they are willing to bear the cost of a certain number of glasses in exchange for attention and purchases; if BLG wins, they can also keep the payment for this batch of orders.
Thunderbird extended the promotion until the finals and used a limit to control the scale of refunds. How much money you make from the activity depends on the effective orders throughout the cycle, actual settlement costs and cooperation fees. About 290,000 yuan on the first day is the amount of page sales calculated based on the public quotation.
BLG's other cooperative brands, including Zhuanzhuan, Logitech G, Durex, TGIF Tuoji, VK Accelerator and the later officially announced Safeguard, also have their own business to do. Logitech can sell the same peripherals as players, and guide the audience to recycling services, and consumer brands can launch championship-themed activities. Thunderbird allows buyers to have a direct monetary relationship with the results in advance.
Netfish gives away free time
IG won the championship in 2018. Netfish invites everyone to surf the Internet for free. It waits for a champion to be generated to attract customers, while Thunderbird uses a refund promise to attract orders in advance.
One year after winning the championship, some media reviewed the event and calculated that the benefits were worth 3 million yuan based on 500 stores, 100 computers per store, 10 yuan per hour, and 6 free hours. This is the price after all computers are filled. Seats that are usually empty will not lose the same amount of income if they are open for free; rent and computer depreciation must be paid regardless of whether there is anyone sitting.
What Wangyu wants to make is the money that customers will spend next time they come online. An interview with the Beijing News in 2020 revealed that Netfish’s store sales in 2019 were 1.5 billion yuan, and the annual customer flow exceeded 40 million. When International Finance News interviewed its franchise manager in 2018, it was learned that the headquarters withdraws 6% from the operating income of franchise stores. After the championship event brings customers, the money must be collected first in the store, and then the headquarters will share it according to the contract.
Also use IG to do business, and Bixin will take commissions directly from the orders. Its CEO Lin Song said in an interview in 2020 that after signing with IG in 2019, the platform’s LOL users and orders doubled that month. At that time, the platform’s commission rate was 10%. For this type of business, the effect of sponsorship ultimately comes from paid orders, and hot searches are just an intermediate step.
IG also has its own revenue. Jinghe took stock of nine cooperative brands in 2019, including Bixin, Chevrolet, Mirinda, Netfish and Corsair. However, the list includes unified alliance cooperation and live broadcast platform replacement. The nine brands have to look at the contracts separately and cannot directly use the same sponsorship unit price.
The provision of football equipment contracts provides a more specific reference case. A Reuters report in 2016 mentioned that clubs usually receive fixed fees, match equipment, a commission of about 10% to 15% on merchandise sales, and may also receive performance bonuses for winning important events. The brand is responsible for production and sales, and the inventory is also borne by itself.
For every jersey sold, the brand and the club share the money according to the contract; if the existing sponsorship fee has been negotiated long ago and a sudden championship is won during the season, the brand will gain more exposure at the original price. If the club wants to turn the increase in value into income, it needs to wait for the next contract renewal.
BLG’s uniforms also involve league authorization. The four-year cooperation announced in 2023 will make Li-Ning the official sports category partner of the LPL and the official licensee of the League of Legends sportswear category, with the scope of cooperation covering multiple teams. BLG's championship can boost the sales of its team uniforms. How the new product revenue is distributed among the brand, licensors and clubs depends on their respective contracts. Football's share ratio can only help understand this relationship, but cannot be directly applied to BLG.
Station B’s returns depend on long-term operations
Brands use teams to sell goods, and Station B, as the owner of BLG, must calculate the profits of the club and the platform together. The club collects external sponsorship and product licensing fees, while the platform sells advertising, membership and other services. The Thunderbird limited edition glasses package includes a Bilibili membership season card. How both parties settle this card depends on the contract.
A report jointly released by Fudan University and Station B recorded that on the night of the 2024 BLG finals, the total viewing time at Station B was 6.72 million hours.
Based on Station B’s advertising revenue of 3.13 billion yuan, 116.5 million daily active users, 113 minutes of average daily usage, and 91 days in the quarter in the second quarter of 2026, the entire site’s advertising revenue corresponds to approximately 0.157 yuan per hour. If the 6.72 million viewing hours of the 2024 finals can reach this site-wide average advertising monetization level, the converted amount will be approximately 1.05 million yuan. The actual advertising revenue of the live broadcast depends on the advertising price and the number of impressions.
According to the average level of the entire site, millions of viewing hours correspond to millions of yuan in advertising revenue. In 2024, BLG won the runner-up: the final itself has already brought viewers, and the 1.05 million yuan does not deduct the time that viewers would have spent on other content on station B. To calculate how much money this year’s championship will bring, it also depends on new views and subsequent business cooperation.
There are more direct cases where teams and platforms work together to serve advertisers. The "Zhuanzhuan × BLG" gold investment reward case submitted by Station B disclosed that the activity budget in 2025 is 2 million to 5 million yuan. After BLG stopped at the top 16, the brand used the content of "BLG has been sent and will be collected at your doorstep" to continue the discussion and guide users to use the service. This budget includes production, placement and other expenses, and the income from station B and the club is recognized separately according to the contract.
This shows that the cooperation with Bilibili can be extended to content production and on-site placement, and competition results are not the only selling point. Winning the championship can increase bargaining chips for the next round of investment, but advertisers still have to pay for their business results.
The prize distribution rules have long been announced: the 2026 champion will receive US$1 million and the runner-up will receive US$800,000. BLG has entered the finals, and the extra bonus won in the last game is US$200,000, which will be distributed among the players and coaches according to the contract. Licensing revenue such as champion skins also depends on subsequent issuance and distribution arrangements.
For the club's annual operating scale, you can refer to Taobo. The annual report of Taobao Group disclosed that the e-sports business revenue in the 2025/26 fiscal year was 40.7 million yuan, compared with 51.5 million yuan in the previous year, a year-on-year decrease of 21%. This is the combined revenue of its multiple gaming divisions. According to the scale of e-sports revenue disclosed by Taobao, a cooperation worth several million yuan is already a considerable business.
Expenditures are also publicly referenced. Inven quoted an audit report as saying that T1's team operating expenses in 2025 will reach 30.68 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 25.5%; such expenses usually include player salaries. In the same year, the company's revenue was 88.64 billion won and operating profit was 2.51 billion won. The company's revenue increased by approximately 80.8% year-on-year. After deducting various expenses such as the cost of merchandise sales, the operating profit margin was still only 2.8%.
BLG's independent budget has not been made public, and the specific profit and loss of the team still depends on its own contract. EDG general manager Pan Yibin previously introduced the club’s main expenses: players, support team and rent. For Station B, the sponsorship, alliance sharing and licensing income obtained by the club must first be used to pay these expenses; additional advertising and membership income obtained by the platform must also deduct corresponding new expenses such as content and bandwidth. Only by putting the club's full-year profit and loss together with the platform's new profits can we measure the return on team building at Station B.
I hope that after the finals are over, let’s shout together: Congratulations BLG! We are champions again!
As for which hero to choose for the champion skin, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.
Respect for the original work, if you are qualified, you should be appreciated.
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