ESL Pro League Season 17: How to watch and what to look forward to
This week marks the start of the ESL Pro League Season 17, one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s highly-anticipated tournaments. 32 of the game’s top teams will compete for over a month to take home $200,000 in prize money and qualify for two of CS:GO’s biggest stages. Here’s everything you need to know about the ESL Pro League Season 17.
ESL Pro League Season 17 details
The ESL Pro League has the likes of G2 Esports, Astralis, and Fnatic display their game prowess for a highly competitive experience. Its 17th season is running from February 22 until March 26. The tournament welcomes familiar faces in the form of Permanent Partner Teams. However, other organizations have qualified through means such as previous events and the ESL World Ranking. 32 teams have made it to the tournament this year, eight more than in Season 16.
EPL Season 17 viewership statistics will be available here
This is not the only change that ESL made to the upcoming season. Season 17’s prize pool is slightly higher at $850,000. In addition, its tournament format was adjusted. Instead of the former single round-robin format groups, four groups, each with eight teams, will now fight through a triple-elimination format. The top four teams of every group will then advance to the Playoffs. The Playoffs are held in typical ESL Pro League fashion, with a single-elimination bracket and a Grand Final.
The winning team automatically qualifies for IEM Cologne 2023 and BLAST World Final 2023, making this a high-stakes tournament. Moreover, places one, two, and three receive 3K, 2K, and 1,2K points towards the BLAST Premier World Leaderboard 2023. Places five to eight only earn 500 points. Last season was won by Team Vitality, who beat Team Liquid 3:2 in the Final. Both are still among the top 10 ESL World Ranking teams. However, after their victory during IEM Katowice 2023, G2 Esports could be a fierce competitor.
How to watch ESL Pro League Season 17
The ESL Pro League Season 17 will have several streams in different languages. Fans can tune into official and partnered streams in English, Russian, Spanish, and more. The English broadcast is available on ESL CS:GO’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. The Season will kick off with two simultaneous matches. On February 22, at 3 pm GMT+0, Outsiders will face IHC Esports, and MIBR will battle Fnatic. Group B kicks off on March 1 with Herioc versus Movistar Riders. Groups C and D follow on March 8 and March 15.
Viewership of previous ESL Pro League Seasons
ESL Pro League Seasons comparison by Hours Watched and Peak Viewers
ESL Pro League Season 16 accumulated over 38 million Hours Watched during its 237-hour Airtime. This makes it the most popular Pro League season since the abandonment of the regional divisions after Season 12. Unsurprisingly, NAVI, Vitality, G2, and Liquid were the most-watched teams, with more than 200,000 Average Viewers, respectively. However, Season 14 leads in peak viewership. Nearly 760,000 Peak Viewers watched the final between Natus Vincere and Team Vitality. In comparison, The Season 16 final saw roughly 250,000 fewer Peak Viewers. Overall, viewership appears to be relatively stable since Season 13, with a slight growth in the previous edition.
Season 17 of the ESL Pro League promises stellar teams and intense competition. We’ll also soon find out whether the league’s upward viewership trend continues this season. Regardless, thanks to an updated format and more teams than in Season 16, CS:GO fans can look forward to an exciting event.
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