Founded May 24, 2016 No. of teams varies | Commissioner Min-Sik Ko Most recent
champion(s) Astralis
(1st title) | |
Sport Counter Strike: Global Offensive Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States | ||
ELEAGUE is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league that began broadcasting in Summer 2016 on TBS. On September 24, 2015 Turner Broadcasting announced that it was partnering with talent agency WME/IMG for a new esports project. The league features 24 teams from across the world to compete in two 10-week league seasons annually, which includes a regular season, playoffs, and a championship. Sources at Turner say there are no plans to lock teams into exclusivity, unlike the Championship Gaming Series, a previous attempt in 2006-2008 to bring professional video games to television in the United States. Matches are broadcast live on TBS on Friday nights, starting on May 27, 2016. The broadcast is simultaneously available on the online streaming service Twitch. Matches are played at the Turner Studios facility in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Esports programming is planned to be part of a revamped TBS. The name "ELEAGUE" was officially unveiled on December 4, 2015.
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Turner will be partnering with online streaming services to bring additional video content. One such program will feature the Renegades' move from Australia to the United States. Additional content will be available on Bleacher Report's Team Stream App.
On March 12, 2016 ELEAGUE announced sponsorship from Arby's, Credit Karma, and Buffalo Wild Wings.
On September 26, 2016, Valve announced that ELEAGUE will host the first major of 2017, ELEAGUE Major 2017 from January 22 to January 29, 2017. The finals will be broadcast live on TBS.
Season 1
ELEAGUE Season 1 began May 24, 2016. 24 teams were divided into six groups. After each team in a group plays the other three teams in its group twice, the teams are placed into a four team, single elimination bracket, with seeding based on the results of the group results. The winner of the group bracket moves on to the Playoffs and the runner-up moves on to the Last Chance Qualifier bracket. In addition, the top two third place teams move on to the Last Chance Qualifier bracket. The Last Chance Qualifier teams play in an eight team, single elimination bracket, in which two teams move on to the Playoffs bracket. The Playoffs consisted of the six group winners – Team EnVyUs, Fnatic, Natus Vincere, Cloud9, Astralis, and Ninjas in Pyjamas – and the two teams out of the Last Chance Qualifier – mousesports and Virtus.pro.
The finals took place on July 30, 2016. It headed Fnatic and Virtus.pro, in which Virtus.pro won 2-0, and the inaugural ELEAGUE season.
Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming were both disqualified from ELEAGUE. The Luminosity players, coach, and manager had all signed with SK to play with the team in the future prior to joining Luminosity. After weeks of contract disputes, Luminosity and SK settled to an agreement, resulting in the Brazilians joining SK Gaming and the Danish players forming a new team, Team X. ELEAGUE saw this as a promotional campaign for the teams, thus, disqualifying both teams from the tournament. It was later reported that at least five ELEAGUE participants – Cloud9, Echo Fox, NRG eSports, Team Liquid, and Team SoloMid – petitioned to prevent the current SK Gaming from inheriting Luminosity's spot in the Playoffs. SK Gaming's Epitácio "TACO" de Melo alleged that his team was not notified of the ruling before it was publicly announced.
Season 2
At the end of the season 1 finals, analyst Richard Lewis announced that the second season of ELEAGUE would air on October 7, 2016. ELEAGUE confirmed that the second season will be CS:GO again.
The second season strayed away from the first season's format. Instead, it reflected the format of that of a Valve-sponsored CS:GO major, such as MLG Columbus 2016 or ESL One Cologne 2016. The season will feature open and closed qualifiers, double elimination group stages, and – like last season – a Playoffs.
ELEAGUE Season 2 started October 21, 2016.
The eight teams in the playoffs were the group winners – mousesports, Virtus.pro, Astralis, and Team Dignitas – and the group runner-ups – FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, and OpTic Gaming.
The finals pitted Astralis, which defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas and SK Gaming, and OpTic Gaming, which defeated mousesports and FaZe Clan. In the end, OpTic Gaming defeated Astralis, two games to one, to win season two of ELEAGUE.
ELEAGUE Major 2017
On September 27, 2016, Valve announced the tenth major in CSGO and the first major of 2017: the ELEAGUE Major 2017, also known as ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017. Like other majors, the top eight teams from the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, will be invited to the major and eight other teams will play through a qualifier. ELEAGUE Major 2017 will take place from January 22, 2017 to January 29, 2017, making is the longest running major with eight days. Previous majors lasted three to six days.
Like previous majors, eight teams receive an automatic bid based on their top eight placement at the previous major, ESL One Cologne 2016, and another eight teams qualify through the Major Qualifier.
The top eight teams in this major were Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, Astralis, and North, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, SK Gaming, and Gambit Gaming.
The finals pitted Astralis, who was in its first major championships, and Virtus.pro, who was in its second. In a close three game set, Astralis defeated Virtus.pro – 12-16, 16-14, 16-14 – to win its first ever major title.
ELEAGUE Street Fighter V Invitational
Season 3 of ELEAGUE strayed away from CS:GO and focused on a new game: the newly released Street Fighter V.
ELEAGUE will invite thirty-two players from around the world to compete in the tournament. Sixteen of the players will be invited based off their 2016 Capcom Pro Tour results and the other sixteen will receive invites from Capcom. The twenty-four players will advance to the regular season and then eight players will advance to the playoffs.