The first Major of the new year has been announced, and it's going to be in Beantown.





The 2017 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive campaign is wrapping up, and with only two Majors during this past year, fans and players alike are itching for the return of the prestigious competition. Following in their own footsteps, ELEAGUE, Turner, and IMG will hold their second Major at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, which will include the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship on Jan. 26-28 . The major will be sporting a $1 million prize pool.





The early qualifying and Group Stages will be hosted at the E LEAGUE Arena at Turner Studios in Atlanta which will fall on Jan. 12-15 and Jan. 19-22, respectively.





In the official press release, Craig Barry, Chief Content Officer for Turner Sports, expressed his excitement at the opportunity, “We’re looking forward to hosting our second ELEAGUE Major in back-to-back years and bringing a CS:GO championship to Boston for the first time. Following the record-setting engagement during last year’s ELEAGUE Major, we appreciate Valve’s ongoing trust in us and all of the continued support from the esports community.”





Per usual, 16 teams will compete for the title and the top eight finishers from PGL Major Krawkow 2017 will be automatically invited. That would include PGL Major Champion Gambit Esports , Astralis , Immortals, Virtus.pro, Fnatic, SK Gaming, BIG, and Team North. It's not all doom and gloom for the bottom eight finishers from PGL, as they will still have a chance to qualify in the ELEAGUE Major Qualifier against each other and the winners of the Minor Championships





Those Minor Championships will determine eight more teams from four different regions: Americas, Asia, Europe, and CIS. These teams will be determined sooner than you think, as the Asia and CIS tournaments will be held Oct. 26-29 , in Seoul, South Korea , and Bucharest, Romania . The tournaments will continue in Europe and the Americas on Nov. 2-5 , in Bucharest, and Toronto.





You can find additional information for the early open online stages of the Minors, which begin on Oct. 9, from the following links for CIS, North America, South America and Europe. Teams competing in the Asia Minor championship will be invited to participate.





Make sure to follow ELEAGUE on Twitter for more information on the first Major of 2018!

Photo Courtesy of Monster Energy