Williams Resolve, the collaboration between UK racing team Williams and esports org Resolve, have announced a new partnership with the Imperial Esports League (IEL) for its tenth season.
This will see the IEL Season X prize pool doubled to £1,000, plus a new community tournament featuring a £500 prize pool and other seasonal giveaways planned.
Resolve said they “want to recognise the value of grassroots communities to the success of esports”.
IEL recently hosted an open tournament for the community on October 8th to 10th with a £500 prize pool, which is over eight times more than their previous biggest tournament offering. There’s also a PS5 to be given away to one participant at the end of the season (those who signed up before October 23rd are eligible).
The IEL had 96 players in its first season and today has grown to become one of the biggest community leagues in Europe, with 32 franchises, 512 players and more than 80 members of staff.
Each season takes place over the course of 14-16 weeks. Pre-season sees players try out for franchises, as each one builds its teams ready for the beginning of league play.
“We want to actively contribute to a community at the heart of the RL scene. We want to help provide unique and meaningful experiences as well as increasing the prize pool for entrants.”
Jeff Simpkins, Resolve
Each of the four skill tiers are divided into two divisions, of which there are 16 teams each.
League play culminates in several weekends of playoffs to determine the champions in each division.
Jeff Simpkins, who recently joined Resolve as operation director, said: “With our recent entrance to Rocket League, we want to show that we care about the wider community. Rather than just talk about it, we wanted to actively contribute to a community at the heart of the RL scene – a community that I know personally have also contributed to the development of talent in the space.
“We want to help provide unique and meaningful experiences as well as increasing the prize pool for entrants. The Imperial Esports League is a perfect fit for us, founded just over three years ago by a team of volunteers with bundles of energy and passion for Rocket League and the amazing community that has been built here.”
Elliot Barham, Imperial Esports League’s director, added: “In terms of immediate changes, our new partnership with Williams Resolve is enabling us to go above and beyond what we’ve ever offered before in terms of engagement and incentives. Beyond this, we’ve found a powerful alliance in our values – a shared dedication to fairness, community, and creating opportunity has enabled us to build a strong foundation as partners.
“Moving forward, we have big plans to make the RL esports scene bigger, better, and more inclusive for all who wish to be involved.”
Sign-ups for the 10th IEL Season are open until the end of the league’s week 6. Those interested can sign up on the IEL website.
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.
