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ESL, DreamHack announce $5M ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO

Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz of Astralis. Patrick Strack/ESL

ESL and DreamHack unveiled plans Tuesday for the 2020 ESL Pro Tour, which will feature more than 20 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments and a total prize pool exceeding $5 million.

Competitions will be split into three tiers -- Open, Challenger and Masters -- with eight Challenger events and 10 Masters events, including two championships. Those will be IEM Katowice in Poland in February, and ESL One Cologne in Germany, held in July.

Spots at the two Masters championships will be earned based on a circuit ranking, stemming from points gathered in other ESL Pro Tour competitions.

"ESL's growth in recent years has led us to rethink what we are doing," ESL CEO Ralf Reichert said in a statement. "We have built some of the world's most impressive esports tournaments, and it was the time to connect the dots where the outcome is a bigger picture that fits better with our vision for esports."

The company's website said the new structure will "have a more complete and simpler path from zero to hero for aspiring players, a more compelling story to follow for existing CS:GO fans and a much more transparent structure for new esports fans."

More details will be announced Sept. 28 at ESL One New York.

--Field Level Media