ESL welcomes back the best crowd in Dota 2 to create more history and break more records
Twelve of the world’s best Dota 2 teams will return to the UK in 2019 for an all improved ESL One Birmingham powered by Intel. The event will take place from May 31 – June 2, 2019 at Arena Birmingham, for three days of intense Dota 2 action in front of one of the best crowds in esports history, battling it out for a share of the $300,000 prize pool.
The teams will be divided into two groups of six, with a round-robin best-of-two group stage that will decide which eight teams qualify. All eight matches will be played in the incredible atmosphere of Arena Birmingham. Regional qualifiers for ESL One Birmingham will take place in March and April 2019 across Europe, North America, China, and South-East Asia. Group stage matches will be played from May 28 – May 30.
The UK community shocked the world by making ESL One Birmingham ESL’s fastest-selling Dota 2 event to date and illustrated the strength of the burgeoning UK scene. ESL has since been busy preparing an event that is not only a world-class Dota 2 tournament but also a festival of esports. The scene’s most passionate fans are invited yet again to fill the arena.
Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said: “I’m delighted Birmingham will once again play host to an ESL tournament. It is a testament to the brilliant fans who made this such a success last year, and we look forward to welcoming fans from across the world. ESL’s presence here is a great boost for the Midlands region and further proof that esports in the UK is going from strength to strength.”
“We witnessed unimaginable levels of support from the UK community which genuinely surprised us all earlier this year”, said James Dean, Managing Director at ESL UK. “We can’t thank everyone enough for making ESL One Birmingham an event to truly remember and ecstatic to be returning with more next year. We’re working on implementing improvements and some additional surprise features based on superb feedback from the community this year”
ESL One Birmingham, the UK’s first Major broke crowd capacity and streaming records across multiple platforms. More than 30 million people viewed the action online across the five days of competition this year, and fans attended from more than 38 different countries and 120 different areas of the UK. ESL One Birmingham was also broadcast on BBC Three for the first time, with thousands of streams and hours of content watched across the weekend. ESL One Birmingham will deploy ESL’s best-in-class production team and equipment to deliver an incredible tournament experience for players and fans.
Tickets for all days of ESL One Birmingham 2019 will be available from 2pm GMT on Thursday 15th November from here. Prices will range from £19 for a one-day ticket and £44 for a three-day ticket to £134 for a premium ticket – which will grant fans access to exclusive signings, a special merchandise package and better seats in the arena.
For more information, check out our official event website and follow ESL One Dota 2 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.