Season 5 Finals in Dallas Close Out Most-Watched CS:GO Pro League Season Yet
G2 Esports Claim Season 5 Championship Title After First Stand-alone Pro League Finals in the United States
Dallas, Texas – June 8, 2017 – The world’s largest esports company recently closed out the fifth season of its premier professional league for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), the ESL Pro League. The best CS:GO teams from North America and Europe battled for their share of the Pro League Season 5 prize pool of US$1,000,000 and the coveted championship title in front of a packed live audience on both June 3 and 4, 2017 at the Verizon Theater in Dallas, Texas.
After a week of group stages, the doors opened at the Verizon Theatre for the semifinals where G2 Esports (France) faced SK Gaming (Brazil) and North (Denmark) battled Team Liquid (United States). Both matches went 2-0 in favor of the European teams and it was G2 Esports who came out victorious in the best-of-five Grand Finals on Championship Sunday.
Over the course of Season 5, ESL Pro League content garnered just under 65 million video views, a 17.5% increase from Season 4. With English language broadcast rights exclusive to YouTube, the ESL Counter-Strike YouTube channel following grew by 163% and broadcasts in 14 additional languages were streamed directly to Facebook and Twitch. Season 5 was all over social media, resulting in 510 million impressions on Facebook and Twitter alone. Continuing with ESL’s efforts to innovate in the area of virtual reality, the Finals were also streamed live on YouTube in VR, reaching peak concurrent viewership of over 5,000.
“Dallas is in many ways a home of competitive Counter-Strike and we’re happy to have brought a successful weekend of esports to the Verizon Theatre for the first stand-alone ESL Pro League Finals in the United States,” said Ulrich Schulze, VP of Pro Gaming, ESL. “With the record-setting 2017 prize pool and increased global reach of Pro League we’re looking forward to even more excitement in Season 6.”
“As the most widely watched CS:GO league, we are thrilled with the results of the Pro League Season 5 finals and viewership numbers reached,” said Ken Hershman, Executive Chairman and Commissioner of WESA. “Congratulations to G2 on their win, as well as all of the participating teams that make Pro League the world’s best CS:GO league.”
Video footage of the Season 5 Finals can be found on the ESL Counter-Strike YouTube channel and photos from the event are available on the ESL Pro League Dallas Press Gallery. For additional insights, take a look at infographics detailing the history of Counter-Strike in Dallas and ESL Pro League Season 5 viewership.
Pro League will return this August for Season 6 with another US$1,000,000 up for grabs for the world’s top CS:GO talent. To stay up to date on all information about the upcoming season, visit the official Pro League website and follow ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook.
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ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world’s largest esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems. ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a truly global footprint (www.eslgaming.com).
Pro League – Pro League is the world’s largest professional league for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, featuring the best teams from North America and Europe. Primarily broadcasted on YouTube and staged in major venues across the globe, Pro League hosts the most widely-watched CS:GO competitions. Pro League was established in 2015 and has a total prize pool of $2 million US dollars for 2017 (proleague.com/csgo).
