ESL have added some of the biggest teams in CS:GO as partners of the ESL Pro League, with BIG, Heroic, and FURIA all joining the Louvre Agreement.
Tournament organizers ESL launched the Louvre Agreement in February 2020 as a new partnership with 13 teams, providing shares of revenues and profits from the ESL Pro Tour.
The partnered teams dropped to 12 when 100 Thieves left CS:GO in October 2020, but it’s now at an all-time high of 15 partners with the additions of BIG, Heroic, and FURIA.
ESL have stated that the total bids from the three teams totaled almost $20m USD as they looked to enter the agreement and secure themselves a stake in the Pro League going forward.
After conducting an official RFP process for the ESL Pro League, we are pleased to announce that @Heroicgg @Furia and @BIGCLANgg will all be joining the Louvre Agreement as Partner Teams of the @ESL Pro League.
Read more:https://t.co/oJmoD0KKTg#esports #proleague #esportsnews pic.twitter.com/c1wcXDrt0g
— Alexander Inglot (@AlexInglot) October 21, 2021
Each prospective new partner in the Louvre Agreement had to provide a “range of organisational, legal and financial information” when being considered by the tournament organizer.
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- Read More: HUNDEN’s mission to destroy Heroic
FURIA and BIG will join the alliance immediately, with Heroic not officially starting until the second half of 2022.
The Danish organization’s delayed start is due to the ESIC investigation that has taken place surrounding former coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen’s use of a spectator bug and subsequent accusations that were made. ESIC updated its stance on the situation on October 18 by punishing Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen for “complicity.” A day later, on October 19, Heroic’s players released a 35-minute long video to share their perspectives.
These three teams join the following partners in the Louvre Agreement: Astralis, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Team Vitality.
“These teams and their investors have recognised the value of what we are building with the ESL Pro League project,” said ESL Pro League commissioner Alex Inglot. The fact that they have put down such significant bids (with financial and non-financial components to each) shows they see real stable governance and growing value, that puts us on a par with other top-tier investment opportunities in esports or sports.”
