Dear Dota 2 fans,

Today we announce that we are going to continue to bring our fans the best possible Dota 2 action in these difficult times and keep the competition going for the players and teams this spring and summer.

The show must and will go on!

After carefully reviewing all possibilities for ESL One Los Angeles and Birmingham 2020 powered by Intel with VALVE, we have come to the conclusion that both tournaments will not proceed as initially planned this year and will both be transformed into online tournaments. The safety and well-being of players, fans, and staff is our utmost priority.

Both tournaments will be played and broadcasted online starting with ESL One Los Angeles 2020 kicking off later this week on March 28 with five regional online leagues. Each region will feature top teams playing it out in a round-robin stage followed by playoffs.

For the EU/CIS regions, we have entered into a multi-year agreement with Maincast, and are teaming up to organize these regions, increasing both prize pools to $375.000 for ESL One Los Angeles and $335.000 for ESL One Birmingham in total. You can find more details and updates about each online tournament on our event pages:

ESL One Los Angeles 2020 ONLINE: March 28 - April 19

ESL One Birmingham 2020 ONLINE: May - June

Fans that were planning on attending the events will receive an email from the venue with details on the next steps and refunds. The on-site event in Birmingham is rescheduled to take place in 2021, and tickets will remain valid. ESL One Los Angeles is fully transformed into an online tournament, with tickets being refunded.

It’s the best, and more importantly, the safest decision for players, coaches, team staff, fans, and our event crews while still keeping the core of esports alive. We are happy that our sport can go on even in the most difficult of times and we hope to bring you some great entertainment during the quarantine period and overall dynamic situation.

We were also looking forward to bringing up and coming Dota 2 players to the main stages of both competitions as part of ESL Academy. To ensure the health and safety of coaches, players and fans, we will unfortunately be canceling ESL Academy events and activities going forward through 2020.

Stay safe, stay inside and enjoy some Dota,



Your ESL One Team

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