$1 million Pro League CS:GO Season Six Finals find new home in Denmark

ESL and WESA partner with the City of Odense to bring the Pro League Finals to Scandinavia

ODENSE — August 10, 2017 — ESL and WESA are pleased to announce their first offline Counter Strike: Global Offensive event in Denmark, as the Pro League Season Six Finals are set to take place in Odense on December 8-10, 2017. The twelve best CS:GO teams from Europe and North America will battle it out for a total prize pool of US $1 million at the Sparekassen Fyn Arena. In additioan, a brand-new gaming expo is planned to be hosted around the tournament, organized by the City of Odense in partnership with ESL. More information regarding the gaming expo will be provided in the upcoming weeks.

Season Six of the Pro League, the longest running professional CS:GO league in history, kicks off on August 22. Prior to the quarterfinals, semifinals and the grand final which will be played out in front of a live audience at the Sparekassen Fyn Arena, the offline group stages are set to be held on December 5-6.

“We are looking forward to bringing the Pro League CS:GO Finals to a completely new location and a brand new gaming expo”, said Ken Hershman, Commissioner and Executive Chairman of WESA. “With this year’s Pro League Finals being held in two outstanding locations, both rich with fans known to have a big passion for esports and CS:GO, we are expecting a truly exciting year for the league.”

“Hosting one of the main esports events in the world is a great opportunity to show the city of Odense to a global audience,” said Peter Rahbæk Juel, Mayor of Odense. “In Odense, esports has been an integrated part of our understanding for sports in a long time and is perfectly combined with our key business focuses within technology. With this event, we create a unique platform to market Odense as a city at the forefront of creating jobs and modern industries such as drones, IT and our international robotic cluster Odense Robotics.”

“It is a worldwide event that comes to Odense and we are absolutely thrilled and prepared,” said Jane Jegind, Deputy Mayor of culture, sport and urban development in the City of Odense. “The city has a growing gaming community where local clubs and associations have embraced esports, and this is a development that the municipality strives to support. Esports and gaming in general, are social activities that bring people together and create a curiosity and interest in new technology and knowledge, that both, Odense and the world need.”

Since the successful launch of the Pro League CS:GO series two years ago, live event attendance and online viewership have both increased steadily season by season. More than 75 million hours of online content have been consumed and over 280 million videos have been played since the first Season. This year, the world’s best teams from Europe and North America compete for over a total prize pool of US$2 million, a 25% growth compared to last year. The Pro League Season Six Finals in December will break the US$4 million prize pool mark that has been paid out in the competition since its inception.

Ticket sales for the Pro League Season Six Finals in Odense start on Friday, August 11 at 12pm CEST / 3am PST. For more information about the event please visit the official Pro League CS:GO website. Be sure to follow ESL CS onTwitter andFacebook for all the latest updates and watch the official announcement trailer here.