ESL One is Coming Back to North America for the First Time in 10 Years

My friends, it seems the European fans have been duped by ESL! Instead of the originally promised ESL One Europe that was pegged for April 2025, we’ll instead be heading stateside to Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s definitely disappointing news for EU fans who have grown used to annual events in Europe but is great news for North American fans, who will be seeing their first ESL One event since New York in 2015.

Why go back to the USA?

OK, so the NA Dota scene has seen better days, we hardly see the intense fandom such as the likes we’ll get at ESL One Bangkok. We’ve seen multiple teams leave the region in the last few years to seek better opportunities elsewhere. Off the top of my head, I could only think of Nouns and Shopify Rebellion that are still around. But perhaps with the inclusion of a new ESL One event, we may see something of a renaissance for the region, that is of course assuming that teams are able to get their visas for travel to the US. There’s a significant number of Russian players that should be qualifying and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of them missing. It seems weird, it seems extremely disappointing to EU fans but I think there’s method in the madness.

The reactions have been mixed, some are hype to see the return of NA Dota, some are wondering what’s going on. As recently as May 2024, ESL clearly still thought that the April Major would be taking place in Europe but that has changed in a mere 6 months. We don’t have any information about why this happened, but there’s a real chance for NA fans to show the community what they’re made of.

“It has been a long time since we’ve hosted an ESL One event in the United States, and we’ve been looking for the right opportunity,” said Michael Van Driel, vice president, game ecosystems with ESL FACEIT Group. “We’re very excited to be back in the US and certain that Raleigh will be a world-class destination to welcome the Dota 2 community as we find our next ESL One Champion.”

About ESL One Raleigh

ESL One Raleigh will be taking place on the original dates pegged for Europe – April 7th – 13th 2025. The Raleigh Convention Centre will open its doors to fans from April 11th – 13th.

Tickets won’t go on sale until November 28th 2024 and when they do, I imagine they’ll be selling pretty quickly. The prices are actually fairly affordable, with the cheapest 3 day ticket costing just $99. Anyone who remembers the harrowing days of the Bali Major, where tickets started at $388 will probably find this more than reasonable.

Twelve of the best Dota teams in the world will be competing in this Ursa themed event so it’s definitely not one to miss out on!