Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pro League returns in 2017 with more teams and regions, a record-setting prize pool and its first offline finals to be held in the United States.
The total ESL Pro League 2017 prize pool will be US$2 million (US$1 million per season) a 25% increase from last year’s US$1.5 million.
Season 5 of the ESL Pro League kicks off on Tuesday, February 7, 2017 and will conclude with the global offline finals to take place at the Verizon Theatre in Dallas, Texas on June 3-4. This will be the first stand-alone ESL Pro League Finals held in the United States — a fitting location, as the recently crowned Season 4 champions Cloud9 are from North America, which is currently the region driving the largest amount of growth in the esports industry.
ESL Pro League Season 5 will run from February to May with the Finals in June and Season 6 will be held from August to November with the Finals in December. To ensure that all teams can participate in other tournaments, next year’s schedule has been built taking already announced events and leagues into consideration, with Pro League matches happening Tuesday to Thursday every week.
“The ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals once again showcased world class CS:GO in a thriving esports region,” said Ulrich Schulze, VP Pro Gaming at ESL. “ESL brought more than 6,000 happy visitors to Sao Paulo and broke our viewership records for Pro League. We are excited to continue this growth and improvement in 2017 with an even larger global reach and increased prizing.”
“We are continuing to make Pro League bigger and better. Through increased prize money, expanding the regions to introduce new teams, and holding our Season 5 Finals in the United States, we are confident that 2017 will be the most exciting year in Pro League’s history,” said Ken Hershman, Commissioner and Executive Chairman of WESA.