Multiple world boxing champion and candidate for the Presidency of the Philippines, Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao, has unveiled Team Pacquiao GG (TPGG), a new esports brand.
TPGG is a joint venture between the UK-based Veloce Group, responsible for esports brand Veloce Esports, Veloce Racing and the Extreme E simulation racing team, and McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris’s Quadrant esports project. To put the commercial potential of this announcement with Manny Pacquiao into context, Southeast Asia is reported to have 42.5m esports fans, 6.4m of which reside in the Philippines. In terms of market size, only Indonesia and Vietnam are larger.
Beyond its own teams, Veloce also operates esports teams for Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, McLaren and the Abu Dhabi government.
Rupert Svendsen-Cook, the company’s CEO, has commented: “This is a key strategic move for Veloce as we look to build out our joint venture and shared ownership gaming entities off the back of our success with Quadrant with Lando Norris. Team Pacquiao represents our first joint venture in Asia, and we are honoured to be creating something that raises the bar within the region alongside an incredible team of creator talent as well as the man himself, Manny Pacquiao.”
