Following the incredible success of The International 2014, Dota 2 is looking to move ever upwards. This is confirmed with the news that Valve’s popular MOBA is set to be played at Madison Square Gardens in New York, possibly one of the most iconic arenas in the world. The Dota 2 tournament will be happening thanks to ESL One, an organisation who call themselves “The world’s largest, independent eSports brand, leading the industry across various games with numerous online and offline competitions. “.
Details of the upcoming event, scheduled for October 9-10, were released in this statement from ESL. The tournament is set to be the “largest eSports event ever in New York City” and is happening as part of New York Super Week, a ten day long pop culture festival. The event will feature eight top ranked Dota 2 teams facing each other for $100,000 over the course of the event. Details regarding teams and rosters will be released in the coming weeks.
ESL One has had prior success hosting eSports events in arenas . Their last event, ESL One Frankfurt, took place in June this year in a World Cup Football stadium (Commerzbank-Arena in Germany) ESL One Frankfurt broke viewership and attendance records worldwide.
After the recording breaking prize pool of The International and ESPN coverage it seems like Dota 2 is climbing ever further towards mainstream acceptance. Madison Square Gardens is a legendary venue for fans of Hockey, Basketball and all different genres of music and an eSport to be occupying the arena is surely a sign of great things to come.
More details about the tournament are available on the ESL website.
You can follow Edd on Twitter @The_Eddpire