By ELeague
Group Stage Round to Begin Friday, Oct. 21; Grand Final to be Held Saturday, Dec. 3
TBS to Televise Weekly ELEAGUE Showcase Throughout Regular Season,
Along with Semifinals & Grand Final
ELEAGUE, the professional eSports organization formed in partnership between Turner and WME | IMG, will open its second season – featuring Valve’s popular competitive video game Counter Strike: Global Offensive – with preliminary rounds starting Wednesday, Sept. 7, and a four-week group stage schedule set to begin Friday, Oct. 21. The second season will feature the premier CS:GO teams in the world competing for the championship.
ELEAGUE’s Grand Final will be held Saturday, Dec. 3 – culminating a week of playoff competition – with live coverage beginning at 4 p.m. ET on TBS. The network will televise a weekly Friday night showcase at 10 p.m. throughout the group stage round, along with the semifinal held Friday, Dec. 2, at 10 p.m. Additionally, live event coverage will continue to be available via Twitch.
The top eight teams that earned a spot in the playoffs during ELEAGUE’s first season will automatically qualify for the group stage round in season two. Additionally, all other teams that participated in season one will be invited to play in the preliminary round.
“We’ve been very pleased with the performance of ELEAGUE and the significant levels of engagement with our content across all platforms in our first season,” said Christina Alejandre, General Manager of ELEAGUE and Vice President of eSports, Turner Sports. “In our second season, we’ve enhanced the schedule to make the stakes even higher from a competitive standpoint, while also creating an opportunity for a more open field. We believe this new format will keep our audience engaged with our content from the opening week through the grand finals and be more accommodating to team and player schedules.”
In its second season, ELEAGUE will continue to feature a limited commercial break format including advertising branding and content from Official Marketing Partners Domino’s, Credit Karma, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and HyperX.
ELEAGUE will host a European Open Qualifier on Saturday through Monday, Sept. 3-5, and an American Open Qualifier from Sept. 10-12, with the top teams earning a bid to the second season’s preliminary round.
Following is the complete ELEAGUE season two schedule and format:
Preliminary Rounds
•European: September 7-8
•American: September 14-15
•Format: 16 teams per region / single elimination / four teams per region advance to group stage
Group Stages
•Group A: October 21-22
•Group B: November 4-5
•Group C: November 11-12
•Group D: November 18-19
•Format: four teams per group / double elimination / top two teams per group advance to playoffs
Playoffs
•Quarterfinals: November 29-30
•Semifinals: December 2
•Grand Finals: December 3
•Format: eight teams / single elimination