ESEA has announced that its Premier division will feature offline finals, with $20,000 up for grabs per region.

For the very first time, ESEA Premier - the second tier in the system established by ESL and ESEA - will feature regional finals, with the prize pool going up over 66 per cent from the $12,000 that were up for grabs per region in Season 20.

The top two teams from the regular season will secure direct spots at the offline finals, while the teams who placed third to sixth will play one best-of-three match to determine the final two teams making it to the LAN stage.



Tempo Storm are at the top of the table in NA Premier

More important than the prize money on offer, however, is the fact that the Premier champion automatically secures promotion to the ESL Pro League, while the losing finalist will play a relegation match against the team who finished 11th in the Pro League.

This is a response to the criticism faced by ESL and ESEA for changing the relegation rules half-way through Season 20, allowing a wildcard team to enter the Pro League directly. Through this system, FaZe and Renegades secured entry into the $750,000 league, even though they had never played in the Premier division.

"With the skill level of teams in Premier continuing to increase, we felt it was important that we gave teams the support and stability they need in order to fight their way into the Pro League," said ESEA Produc Manager Brett Sheffield. "By creating a LAN tournament, we are allowing teams to prove themselves in an offline setting, something they may never get if we don’t start to provide that opportunity now." "This is only the first step into growing a much stronger feeder system to the Pro League and I’m excited that we get to give teams this chance early on in 2016."

The dates and the venue for the season finals, which will feature a single-elimination, best-of-three bracket, will be announced by ESEA later in the season.