The impact of esports sponsorship on shareholder wealth: an event study

This work project examines the impact the sponsoring esports organisations on shareholders wealth using 54 events and 22 different professional esports organisations. The results show a positive and significant stock market reaction around the fifth day after the sponsorship announcement. The results also show that the reaction differs by geographical location, sponsor’s industry, team popularity, and COVID-19 outbreak. There sults by industry, popularity and in the COVID-19 period are consistent with unexpected announcements generating larger reactions. My findings suggest that sponsoring the esports industry impacts shareholder wealth and help to sponsor firms to make investment decisions