'One of the best crowds in Dota 2 history' – ESL One Birmingham will return to the UK in 2019

esl one birmingham dota 2 major 1

ESL has hailed ‘one of the best crowds in Dota 2 history’ as it announces ESL One Birmingham will take place in the UK again next year.

12 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, battling it out for a share of the $300,000 prize pool.

The event will take place from May 31st to June 2nd 2019 at Arena Birmingham, for three days of Dota 2 action.

ESL One Birmingham first took place in May earlier this year and was a real success – it broke ticket sales records to become the fastest-selling ESL Dota 2 Major ever.

It also 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.

This year’s event had a $1m prize pool and next year’s has $300,000 – the reason for this is because the 2018 tournament was granted Major status by Dota 2 developer Valve, an ESL spokesperson confirmed to Esports News UK.

ESL One Birmingham will not be a part of the Dota Pro Circuit season next year, but ESL has promised it will be a bigger and better event regardless: an event ‘that is not only a world-class Dota 2 tournament but also a festival of esports’.

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 at 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 28th to May 30th.

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.”

 

“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.”
Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries

 

“We witnessed unimaginable levels of support from the UK community which genuinely surprised us all earlier this year”, added James Dean, ESL UK MD.

“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.”

Ticket 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.

Tickets for all days of ESL One Birmingham 2019 will be available here on Thursday November 15th from 2pm GMT.

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