ESL and Intel will invest $100 million each in esports. The new partnership extends till IEM Katowice 2025.
ESL and Intel have renewed their long-standing partnership for another three years. The partnership has completed more than 20 years and will continue for a few more. The renewal will commence in 2022 with ESL and Intel investing $100m each. The partnership will continue till IEM Katowice 2025. All non-ESL Pro League CS:GO tournaments will come under the IEM brand. This means ESL One Cologne will also be a part of the IEM tournament circuit starting 2021.
ESL One Cologne is now IEM Cologne
After 20 years of building something hand in hand it’s hard to consider Intel as merely a partner,” Reichert said. “The two-decade journey has forged a bond that has no parallel in the world of esports and we are excited to be extending it with a commitment of this magnitude; the next three years will be the greatest esports fans have seen yet.
The renewed partnership will bring all non-EPL tournaments under the IEM brand. ESL One Cologne is one of the biggest tournaments in the CS:GO calendar. Also popular as The Cathedral of Counter-Strike, Cologne welcomes thousands of fans from all over the world every year.
The ESL Pro Tour will consist of IEM circuit events and two ESL Pro League seasons each year on the Masters level. On the Challenger level, it will continue to feature DreamHack Open tournaments, ESL National Championships and ESEA Premier.
This means Katowice and now, Cologne, the two biggest events in the Counter-Strike calendar will come under the IEM brand.
As announced here, IEM Cologne 2021 is planned to take place as a LAN competition on July 06 - 18 without an audience. Fan tickets for ESL One Cologne 2020/2021 remain fully valid for IEM Cologne 2022 on July 15-17 at LANXESS arena.
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Featured Image Credit: ESL.