Sheep Esports partners with Polymarket for LoL, VALORANT

Sheep Esports announced a partnership with prediction market platform Polymarket to run sponsored content and display advertising across its League of Legends and VALORANT coverage. The company said the agreement will fund growth and keep site access free for readers.

The deal covers only the outlet’s LoL and VALORANT operations and excludes its Rocket League division, which was created after the acquisition of Shift (ShiftRLE) and will continue to operate separately.

Sheep Esports confirmed that all sponsored content and ads linked to Polymarket will be clearly disclosed and labelled on its site. The company added that revenue from the partnership will be reinvested into editorial work and the development of new content formats. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

On editorial independence, Sheep Esports reported it vetted the partnership against its standards and long-term goals. The company stated Polymarket will not take part in editorial decisions, reporting, investigations, rankings or coverage.

Parts of the esports community reacted negatively to the announcement. Criticism focused on the outlet’s history of publishing leaks and the potential for perceived conflicts when a platform that allows betting or predictions is tied to leak-driven reporting.

Polymarket is a large prediction market platform that has previously expanded into esports through other commercial partnerships. Sheep Esports also maintains a commercial relationship with Winamax, a licensed poker and sports betting operator in Europe.

The outlet framed the partnership as a revenue source to support reporting and new projects while keeping content free for readers. Debate in the community continues over how news organisations should manage partnerships with betting and prediction businesses.