ESL Pro League to Reportedly Have Strict Restrictions Surrounding Exclusivity
By Max Mallow
ESL Pro League will have strict restrictions as it becomes integrated with the newly announced ESL Pro Tour, a report from Dexerto claimed Tuesday.
Sources: ESL Pro League introducing strict exclusivity rules for Pro Tour in 2020
— DeKay (@dekay) September 3, 2019
The first of many reports to come about ESL Pro Tourhttps://t.co/mJSZNVs8U4
An excerpt of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's tour rulebook, sent to Dexerto in the report, outlines strict exclusivity rules beginning Jan. 1, 2020 pertaining to teams participating in the ESL Pro League.
According to the report, teams part of Pro League will not be allowed to play in other CS:GO leagues, or non-Valve sponsored competition, where the first day of competition and grand final day are more than 14 days apart.
The following excerpt is from Dexerto's report:
“Beginning January 1st 2020, all member teams of Pro League shall not play in other Counter-Strike leagues, this means non Valve sponsored competitions where the first day of competition (excluding qualifiers) and the grand final day are more than fourteen (14) days apart, besides Pro League.
All member teams of Pro League shall limit their tournament participation days, meaning the active competition days of a tournament they participate in regardless of if they play on that day or not, to not more than 60 days per calendar year (not including travel, media days, or break days). This number excludes official Valve competitions such as Minors and Majors, online qualifiers, and also excludes Pro League competition days. Exceptions to the number of tournament days allowed can be granted by the Members Meeting.
During the League Season (per jointly aligned schedule), teams shall not play in any other tournaments/leagues. Member teams may play online qualifiers for tournaments of $200,000 or higher in prize money during this period. This number excludes official Valve competitions such as Minors and Majors, and online qualifiers.”
Furthermore, two Dexerto sources claimed EPL teams won't be able to also compete in ECS. ECS is the biggest competitor to ESL Pro League and is operated by FACEIT.
The ESL Pro Tour, announced Tuesday, is set to include all CORSAIR DreamHack Masters, ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, ESL Pro League, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championship, and Mountain Dew League events in 2020.
Photo courtesy of ESL/Helena Kristiansson