ESL Addresses IEM Dallas 2025 and PGL Astana Travel Concerns

ESL has addressed community concerns surrounding teams choosing to participate in IEM Dallas 2025 and PGL Astana 2025. With PGL Astana ending on May 18th and IEM Dallas commencing on May 19th, there has been understandable concern about the feasibility of teams who make a deep run making it from one event to the other. The teams affected by this are The MongolZ, Eternal Fire, FURIA, and GamerLegion.

ESL didn’t think teams could make it to both events

Kicking off the extensive post, ESL clarified that “based on travel pathways, timing assessments and other logistical considerations,” the company “did not believe they would be able to play both events and make it to Dallas in time for the start of the tournament.” With teams in the hunt for those sweet, sweet VRS points, the organizations involved “have worked on presenting a travel plan that would bring them to Dallas in time to play in the tournament.” According to ESL “That travel plan is not ideal for any party involved,” but it will still be allowing those teams to compete.

However, the situation does not come without risk. ESL clarifies that, “In the situation of a flight delay, a forfeit is a likely outcome; tarnishing our event, leaving us with a large amount of sunk costs, and a loss of viewership.” It is only allowing this to process “in the spirit of supporting the transition to an open ecosystem,” and naturally, ESL hopes to avoid this going forward.

How will teams make it from Astana to Dallas?

ESL believes that any team that exits PGL Astana 2025 at the Group Stage or Quarter-Finals will be able to arrive in time for the designated arrival day in Dallas: May 17th. However, the top four teams at PGL Astana “will only be able to depart from Astana at 02:15AM on 19th of May.” A stopover in Istanbul means that teams will arrive at 12:45 on May 19th, causing them to arrive late and miss media obligations for IEM Dallas 2025. This will result in a $4,000 fine and a 5% deduction of prize money winnings. For the flights themselves, ESL and PGL “will cost-share on the flight leg between Astana and Dallas for all teams participating in both tournaments.”

If teams are late, then forfeits also come into the equation. ESL has clarified its position on this, too, stating that the “First map of the match will be forfeited 15 minutes after the assigned start time of the match, the entire match will be forfeited 30 minutes after the assigned start time.” Then, forfeited teams “teams will drop to the lower-bracket of their designated group, and the above forfeit scenarios will be in effect once more for their next match the following day.”

Seeding and scheduling for IEM Dallas 2025

Tournament seeding for IEM Dallas 2025 will take place on May 6th, although time slots will not be set in stone until the Quarter-Finals of PGL Astana have been played. This ensures that if necessary, it can allow teams the time needed to get to the event to avoid the forfeits detailed above.

In the event that two or more teams reach the top four of PGL Astana then head to Dallas, “teams will be assigned to the second to last slot (4.30PM) and last slot (7:00PM) of the day. The assignment of slots will be determined by a coin flip in order to provide identical treatment for all teams.”

All in all, it’s far from an ideal situation for both PGL and ESL. The 2025 CS2 calendar has proven to be particularly brutal so far, especially as we adjust to the increased amount of tournament organizers coming into the fold. This is something that should be resolved with time, but for now, it’s a tough situation all around.