The ESL One Los Angeles Dota 2 Major was the first big Dota 2 event to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The subsequent ESL One Birmingham set to take place at the end of May was also under question. Yesterday ESL announced their solution – making both events online.
The cancelation of the ESL Los Angeles Major came as a last-minute surprise for most teams as it was announced mere days before the actual event was supposed to kick off. It was a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic and the US government imposing a flight travel ban for many countries in Europe. This would’ve made attendance impossible for many of the participants, so ESL made the right decision to put public health first. Just as many expected the DotaPit Minor and the EPICENTER Major were also canceled due to the virus outbreak. The next logical step was already clear and ESL gave fans an update on their two tournaments yesterday.
#ESLOne Los Angeles kicks off this weekend, Saturday the 28th! Get ready for a lot of quality Dota in the coming weeks https://t.co/d2ma0YHXk0
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) March 25, 2020
After carefully reviewing all possibilities for ESL One Los Angeles and Birmingham 2020 powered by Intel with VALVE, we have come to the conclusion that both tournaments will not proceed as initially planned this year and will both be transformed into online tournaments. The safety and well-being of players, fans, and staff is our utmost priority.
Both tournaments will be played and broadcasted online starting with ESL One Los Angeles 2020 kicking off later this week on March 28 with five regional online leagues. Each region will feature top teams playing it out in a round-robin stage followed by playoffs.
It becomes clear from the statement that ESL One Los Angeles will be starting this Saturday, March 28 and will conclude on April 19. That’s a little bit over 3 weeks. The event will feature 34 teams coming from the Minor and Major qualifiers which were already played out before the quarantine. Attending teams will be split into 5 regional leagues and the total prize pool for ESL One LA will stand at $375,000. This is way down from the original $1 million. The distribution will be as follows:
- North America - $40,000
- Europe/CIS - $200,000
- SEA - $4,000
- South America - $40,000
- China - $55,000
The difference between Europe/CIS and the rest is more than obvious and according to ESL it’s a result of their new multi-year partnership with Maincast. Europe is also the most contested region with the highest number of top-performing teams. Anyone who purchased a ticket for the tournament will be refunded due to it going completely online. The format for the event was also made clear. EU and CIS will be playing together in two groups of 8 teams each. China will have a single group of 6 teams and the rest of the regions will each have one group of 4 teams. The grand finals will feature the top two teams from each region, except for EU/CIS the details of which are still a mystery. All of the series will be Bo3 except for the Bo5 grand finals.
For the fans who were looking forward to attending #ESLOne Birmingham 2020, your tickets will remain valid for Birmingham 2021!Find out more:https://t.co/h92USIIsXB
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) March 25, 2020
As for ESL One Birmingham, the event is still quite far away in time as it got rescheduled for 2021. The prize pool there increases by $35,000 and will now total $335,000. Fans who got a ticket will be able to safeguard it for a year or alternatively refund it if they wish to do so.
It’s unclear when the global crisis will come to an end, but event organizers seem to be adapting really well so far. Switching online is more than convenient as there are plenty of platforms to use.
