ESL UK has confirmed it’s making changes to the ESL UK & Ireland Premiership finals for spectators.
“In 2019 and onwards, the ESL Premiership will be going on tour around the UK to allow for easier travel and new venues to attend to support their teams in a great live environment,” ESL said in a wider press release about its partnership with Intel.
Up until now the Premiership finals have taken place either at ESL’s Leicester studio, or as part of other events like EGX and also MCM Expo in the past (where a streaker once ran onto the Hearthstone stage).
Details of the 2019 tour are scarce at the moment but ESL said more info is coming soon.
ESL UK also said that there will be three seasons of the Rainbow Six Premiership and three seasons of the CSGO Premiership this year. These have a combined prize pool of £78,500, with additional games to be announced soon.
“Our work with ESL aims to develop the esports industry by showcasing current talent as well as searching for next stars across the UK.”
Scott Gillingham, Intel UK
Elsewhere, ESL UK staff will be attending the upcoming epic.LAN event on February 8th at Kettering Conference Centre. They will be hosting a Premiership Conference, hosting a range of panels and asking the community for feedback in order to make changes to the Premiership.
“LAN attendees will get a chance to discuss the plans for the future of the Premiership, take part in an open Q&A with the ESL UK Staff, and many others,” ESL confirmed.
The conference will be open to epic26 ticket holders. If you wish to attend the conference but do not have a ticket for the lan, you can get free tickets to the conference here.
The news was part of an announcement confirming Intel has extended its headline sponsorship of the ESL Premiership in 2019.
Intel has been the sponsor of the ESL Premiership for the past four seasons. Last year, Intel and ESL UK teamed up for a number of campaigns including the ‘Year of UK Esports’, a caster competition and more.
Intel and ESL of course have a long standing partnership that has existed for nearly 20 years globally, with news announced earlier this year that Intel are investing an additional $100m for the next three years. The pair team up to put together the Intel Extreme Masters events.
ESL UK MD James Dean said: “Intel’s involvement since the early days of the ESL Premiership has provided so many opportunities for aspiring professional players and talent throughout the recent years. It’s tremendous news for the UK and Irish esports scene to see Intel extend its headline sponsorship for 2019; allowing for the collaboration of companies to create a really outstanding tournament on a whole new level.”
Scott Gillingham, Intel UK gaming and esports lead, added: “Intel is proud to be returning as the headline sponsor for the ESL UK Premiership in 2019. The partnership with ESL showcases our commitment to support the growth of esports to bring fans the biggest and best events globally and across the UK.
“Our work with ESL aims to develop the esports industry by showcasing current talent as well as searching for next stars across the UK.
“2019 is going to be another great year for UK esports and we are very excited to be a key partner driving the success and growth of the sport.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
