NEW YORK— October 3, 2019 — ESL One New York powered by Intel® celebrated its return to the Barclays Center on September 28-29, 2019 for the fourth consecutive year. The world’s best teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) took the stage to compete for $200,000 in prize money.
This year’s CS:GO tournament kicked off with 8 teams – six invited teams and two additional teams that earned spots from the North American and European regional qualifiers. An early upset of the tournament saw Team Liquid eliminated in the semi-finals by Astralis, losing the best of three series 1-2 in front of a home crowd. The second semi-final saw Evil Geniuses advance over G2 Esports in a similarly intense match. In the Grand Final, EG pulled out a final 3-1 win over Astralis, securing the title of ESL One New York 2019 champions and taking home a lion’s share of the prize pool.
Along with the crowd of over 6,500 fans attending Barclays Center on each event day, the online broadcast of ESL One New York 2019 drew an average audience per minute (AMA) of 160,000 with a peak of 420,000. The tournament clocked in over 6.5 Million watched hours and a total of over 15 Million sessions, even surpassing ESL One Cologne’s viewership figures for the final day.
“New York delivered once again for the fourth consecutive year running. The crowd in Barclays Center created an incredible, electric atmosphere, propelling the teams to maximum performances and a showcase of Counter-Strike”, said Ulrich Schulze, SVP Product at ESL. “We look forward to what the future holds for this tournament. Looking toward the future, we are very excited to have kicked off the new ESL Pro Tour with a special announcement here in New York, introducing our very own vision for esports: create a world where everybody can be somebody, and that was exactly the spirit that could already be felt this weekend”.
A Media Briefing regarding ESL Pro Tour was held on the first main tournament day. During the briefing, ESL and DreamHack, both part of MTG, revealed details about the new ESL Pro Tour, a circuit that links over twenty CS:GO tournaments and leagues. The ESL Pro Tour will feature an aggregate prize pool of over $5 million for 2020 from competitions on five different continents, making it the world’s largest and most lucrative circuit in Counter-Strike’s 20-year history. Additionally, The ESL Pro Tour will combine multiple previously unconnected ESL and DreamHack tournaments into one narrative that builds toward two Masters Championships each year. The collaboration aims to create a more complete 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 and thus marked a very special occasion.
For more information about ESL One New York, visit the official tournament website and browse the event photographs and video footage on ESL Counter-Strike YouTube channel. To stay up to date on ESL One, follow on Twitter and Facebook and visit the official website.
Additional details on the newly announced Pro Tour can be found on the Pro Tour website.