Alex Dreyfus’s Global Poker League has received a significant boost from the announcement by Dreyfus’s Mediarex Sports and Entertainment company Friday that online poker’s biggest operator, Pokerstars, has signed on as lead and exclusive GPL sponsor.
In a statement Friday, Dreyfus said that the deal reinforces Mediarex’s goal of transitioning poker from a player experience to a fan attraction.
One of the main ways the GPL is aiming to achieve this is through its signature arena: “The Cube” which helps build excitement, suspense and enables on-site fans to see every angle of gameplay.
“The Global Poker League brings an innovative team-based twist to poker and we are happy to support Mediarex in their quest to bring poker to new audiences”, said Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ director of corporate communications.
PokerStars is no stranger to the GPL; it has previously supported the league through the participation of members of Team PokerStars Pros including Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and ElkY Grospellier.
Dreyfus said: “We are optimistic about this partnership; having the support of PokerStars is a crucial step forward on the road to fully establishing the GPL as a real blueprint for poker entertainment in the future.
“PokerStars offers us a multitude of opportunities to grow our platform and continue developing our two-fold strategy of connecting the League to the poker community and genuinely connecting poker to the mainstream entertainment sector on a large scale.”
PokerStars will be working with Mediarex Sports & Entertainment on a number of promotional initiatives designed to connect both existing and prospective poker fans to the GPL, and will accrue brand exposure through the tournaments.
The GPL starts with 12 teams from across the globe consisting of a 72-strong roster of pros whose combined live tournament winnings exceed $400 million. Recent surveys indicated that 56 percent of poker fans would like to play in team tournaments and an additional 41 percent would be interested in being part of a GPL team.