By GREGORY ZELLER //
A highly caffeinated Farmingdale State College sponsorship will add rocket fuel to Rocket League and fresh dash to Super Smash Bros.
Hauppauge-based G FUEL, a circa-2008 manufacturer of vitamin-enriched elixirs for the videogame set, will henceforth sponsor Farmingdale State’s four-year-old Esports Program. The self-billed “Official Drink of Esports” will supply crates of “hydration products” – it comes in powders and ready-to-drink cans – and host on-campus events promoting the product.
It will also provide co-branded team apparel – imagine “Call of Duty” warriors with NASCAR-like advertising placards, or the Chico’s Bail Bonds logos from “The Bad News Bears” uniforms.
And perhaps most importantly, the sponsorship – announced jointly by the college and the company Tuesday – will create “career advancement and educational opportunities,” adding a rare significance to the deal, according to Farmingdale State College Vice President for Development and Communications Matthew Colson.
Matthew Colson: Game on.
“G FUEL’s support to Farmingdale Esports is not only significant in the resources it’s providing to the team – it’s a type of sponsorship that is typically found at larger universities,” Colson said Tuesday. “The company has also opened the doors to its corporate headquarters to our students for internship and employment opportunities.”
Farmingdale State’s Esports program, which launched in 2018 with just a handful of members, is among the more robust competitive videogame programs on the collegiate circuit. The Rams now boasts more than 150 players on 20 teams – popular titles including Valorant (a first-person shooter) and Ultimate (a team-based ultimate-frisbee simulator) get lots of play – and have already captured multiple Esports championships in the East Coast Conference, an actual NCAA Division II athletic conference.
Considering that rapid rise – and his energy-drink company’s keen focus on gaming – it made a lot of sense to team up with nearby Farmingdale State’s Esports program, according to G FUEL Founder and CEO Cliff Morgan.
“Farmingdale State College is practically in G FUEL’s backyard, so it’s fantastic to see what their Esports program has become and how it continues to grow,” Morgan said in a statement. “We’re proud to support these incredible collegiate players and officially welcome them into the G FUEL family.”
As for the fuel itself, user experiences may vary. One 16-ounce can of G FUEL’s Pewdiepie flavor, for instance, contains 300 milligrams of caffeine (about three times the caffeine in a cup of coffee) and 50 percent of the recommended Percent Daily Value of Vitamin C.
A one-serving scoop of G FUEL’s Kiwi Strawberry Energy Powder, meanwhile, delivers about half of that caffeine blast, but a whopping 417 percent of your daily Vitamin C – and a galactic 7,000 percent of your recommended Vitamin B12 dose, according to product nutrition labels.
G FUEL is calorie-, carbohydrate- and sugar-free across the board (it does include artificial sweeteners) and is also available in multiple caffeine-free varieties.
Not playing around: Esports are serious business at Farmingdale State.
However it’s ingested, G FUEL is an ultra-popular product and recognized influencer in competitive-videogaming circles – and landing a sponsorship from a leader like that speaks well of Farmingdale State’s up-and-coming Esports program, which is slowly becoming an intriguing recruitment tool for college executives.
Rodolfo Chacon, Farmingdale State’s assistant director for campus recreation, called the collaboration “a testament to the hard work, performance and success of the Esports team at FSC.”
“G FUEL is one of the largest Esports brands in the business,” Chacon added. “Their partnership will propel our Esports Program to reach its fullest potential.”
