The ESL Pro League is back – and this year it\u2019s bigger and better than ever. With two seasons boasting US$750,000 in prize money each (a US$250,000 increase on last year\u2019s season totals), that means an incredible US$1,500,000 is on the line for the competing teams – and no one is going to let that kind of money slip through their fingers without a fight.<\/p>\n
The ESL Pro League<\/p>\n
The ESL Pro League will kick off on the week of February the 8th to the 14th 2016, with the final week of play set to take place from the 25th to the 30th of April 2016. Both seasons will also culminate in large-scale LAN events in front a live audience that you could be a part of!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ESL Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pro League is levelling up this year: we\u2019ll be working on enabling larger offline crowds to follow the action as players battle in matches that could define the rest of their lives,\u201d said Ulrich Schulze, VP Pro Gaming at ESL. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just offline audiences we\u2019re aiming for \u2013 television broadcasts, a higher standard of online production, a continued emphasis on competitive integrity \u2013 these are just some of the things you will see this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teams<\/p>\n
The following teams will be going head to head for the lion\u2019s share of that incredible prize pool during the two seasons of the ESL Pro League:<\/p>\n
Europe
\n\u2022 Fnatic
\n\u2022 Natus Vincere
\n\u2022 Question Mark (formerly Team SoloMid)
\n\u2022 EnVyUs
\n\u2022 Titan
\n\u2022 Team Dignitas
\n\u2022 Ninjas in Pyjamas
\n\u2022 mousesports
\n\u2022 Virtus.pro
\n\u2022 SK Gaming
\n\u2022 FlipSid3 Tactics
\n\u2022 Wildcard Slot<\/p>\n
USA
\n\u2022 Team Liquid
\n\u2022 Luminosity Gaming
\n\u2022 OpTic Gaming
\n\u2022 Counter Logic Gaming
\n\u2022 compLexity
\n\u2022 Cloud9 G2A
\n\u2022 Splyce.gg
\n\u2022 EnemyGG
\n\u2022 Sponsorless
\n\u2022 Method
\n\u2022 Winterfox
\n\u2022 Wildcard Slot<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s ESL CS:GO events shattered numerous industry records and are setting the bar for a truly exhilarating 2016 season. ESL One Katowice became the first ever Counter-Strike event in history to break one million concurrent viewers, while ESL One Cologne managed to eclipse the newly set record with a peak concurrent viewership of 1.3 million, thereby becoming the most watched Counter-Strike tournament of all time. And over the course of 2015, the ESL Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pro League accumulated over 100 million sessions and almost 30 million hours watched. By undergoing a staggering 50% prize pool increase for 2016, we can expect another thrilling year of CS:GO action and we\u2019re excited to kick off the first season on February 9th.<\/p>\n
For more information about the ESL Pro League, be sure to check out the official website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ESL Pro League is back – and this year it\u2019s bigger and better than ever. With two seasons boasting US$750,000 in prize money each (a US$250,000 increase on last year\u2019s season totals), that means an incredible US$1,500,000 is on the line for the competing teams – and no one is going to let that … <\/p>\n