In exactly one week, on April 7, ESL One Raleigh 2025 kicks off, one of the biggest Dota 2 esports tournaments of the year. It marks the first ESL One event in the U.S. since 2015 and the country’s first tier-1 Dota tournament since TI 2023. Esports Charts breaks down everything you need to know, from the schedule to the streams and more.
What makes ESL One Raleigh 2025 stand out?
High-profile Dota 2 tournaments outside of The International are a rare sight in the U.S. The event is backed by the North Carolina Esports Incentive Grant Fund, an initiative dedicated to growing esports in the state. The city of Raleigh is no stranger to hosting top-tier esports competitions; between 2022 and 2024, the city staged major events like the Fortnite Champion Series, Apex Legends Global Series, LCS, and Call of Duty League.
ESL One Raleigh 2025 takes place in the middle of the season, with competition heating up for ESL Pro Tour Season 3 ranking points – and, by extension, spots in the Esports World Cup 2025. The tournament qualifiers were held months ago, in January, to give the winning teams more time to navigate the lengthy process of obtaining U.S. visas. As a result, in earlier 2025 tournaments, some teams had to play with substitutes so that their main players could focus on visa paperwork.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the tournament was the Smoke of Deceit bug. During the qualifiers, several teams took advantage of a flaw in the game code to gain an unfair edge over their opponents. As a result, the organizers revoked the slot of NAVI Junior, the winners of the Western Europe qualifier. Several other teams also received fines and warnings.
ESL One Raleigh 2025 Teams
A third of the participants received invitations based on the ESL Pro Tour rankings. On January 13, the top teams received their invites: PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, Team Falcons, and Team Liquid. The rest of the participants were determined through the qualifiers.
As we mentioned earlier, not all of the qualifying winners will compete at the U.S. tournament. The organizers revoked NAVI Junior’s slot due to excessive bug use, giving up their spot to AVULUS. Meanwhile, the winners of the China qualifier, Xtreme Gaming, couldn’t submit a complete roster in time. In early March, the team replaced three players and their coach, and their slot was awarded to Team Tidebound.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Team Liquid
|
Team Falcons |
| Team Spirit
|
BetBoom Team |
| Nigma Galaxy
|
Tundra Esports |
| Shopify Rebellion
|
Heroic |
| PARIVISION
|
AVULUS |
| Talon Esports
|
Team Tidebound
|
ESL One Raleigh 2025 Schedule
The 12 participants are divided into two groups, where each team will play against every other team in a best-of-2 series. The top two teams from each group will move on to the upper bracket of the playoffs, the next two will start in the lower bracket, and the bottom two will be eliminated. The playoff matches will be played in a best-of-3 format, with the grand final being a best-of-5 series. Detailed schedule is available here.
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Group Stage: April 7-9
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Playoffs: April 10-13
ESL One Raleigh 2025 Broadcasts
The tournament broadcasts will be available on multiple platforms and in several languages. The primary official streams will be in English, with additional studio broadcasts in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Ukrainian. Some matches will run concurrently, so streams will also be available on secondary and tertiary studio channels.
Primary broadcasts:
Additionally, viewers can look forward to a variety of regional broadcasts from co-casters: be sure to check out your favorite streamers and the Dota 2 section on Twitch during match days!
Potential viewership milestones for ESL One Raleigh 2025
Among non-Major and non-TI Dota 2 tournaments in North America, the now-defunct The Summit series by Beyond the Summit remains the all-time viewership leader. The seventh edition of the series holds the record, peaking at 177,807 concurrent viewers.
Meanwhile, the ESL One Raleigh 2025 qualifiers in several regions drew over 100,000 concurrent viewers, suggesting that the upcoming event has a strong chance of setting a new viewership milestone for the region.
If we consider Majors, the upcoming event in Raleigh has a realistic chance of surpassing The Boston Major 2016’s peak of 469,811 viewers. However, catching up to PGL Arlington Major 2022’s 707,907 peak viewers will be a much tougher challenge.
As always, Esports Charts will deliver timely updates on match results and viewership trends. Stay tuned to our website for the latest on the tournament!
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