Electronic Sports League
Current season, competition or edition: ESL Pro League Season 5
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| Formerly | Deutsche Clanliga Electronic Sports League |
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| Sport | PC and console video games |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Owner(s) | Ralf Reichert |
| Countries | Global |
| Official website | http://www.eslgaming.com/ |
ESL, originally Electronic Sports League, is an eSports company which organizes competitions world-wide. ESL is the world's largest esports company, and the oldest professional esports organization that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest eSports company to broadcast on Twitch.
The Electronic Sports League (later shortened to simply ESL) launched in the year 2000 as the successor of the Deutsche Clanliga, which was founded in 1997. The company began with an online gaming league and a gaming magazine. It also rented out servers for game competitions.
ESL annual productions more than doubled from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, ESL's Intel Extreme Masters Katowice became the most watched esports event of all time. The event had more than 100,000 in attendance and Twitch viewership was over one million.
In July 2015, Modern Times Group (MTG) bought a 74 percent stake in ESL from its parent company, Turtle Entertainment, for $86 million. That same month, ESL announced its participation in "esports in Cinema," which would broadcast live esports events to over 1,500 movie theaters across the globe. Esports in Cinema included Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coverage from ESL One Cologne 2015 and ESL One New York, as well as a documentary, "All Work All Play," which follows the rise of esports and highlights pro gamers as they work toward the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship.
After a player publicly admitted Adderall use following ESL One Katowice 2015, ESL worked with the National Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency to institute an anti-drug policy. It was the first international esports company to enforce anti-doping regulations. Random tests for the drugs prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency were implemented for its events. Punishments for the use of performance-enhancing drugs range from reduced prize money and tournament points to disqualification and a maximum two-year ban from ESL events.
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