ESL is no doubt one of the biggest esports companies in the world, and when we were in London recently we talked with ESL UK's Caroline Oakes about what there is to look forward to, including the national leagues, which she said pave the way for esports hopefuls to get into the higher leagues.
"All the things!" she told us when we asked what there is this year to be excited about. "But aside from all the things I would say what we have going on consistently is our national league, and this is basically our grassroots attempt to kind of bring esports out to everyone. The cool thing about this is that anybody can basically qualify if you're a pretty well-rounded team or whatever, and we kind of put you on a stage and we see how good you are. So those are the main things we're working on now."
"A lot of our things that come in come in very very quick, so it's basically like we'll have one month to plan this crazy event and it's absolutely nuts, but I would say key things to look out for right now - definitely our national league. We've just announced Rainbow Six that's obviously happening as well, and that's super cool because it adds to what we already have, and I think it's fun to see that we have a community out there who want to play professionally but maybe hasn't been catered to so much, but now they can and we're helping them do that."
When asked about whether ESL considers grassroots as important as the big competitions, Oakes said: "I would say definitely both. I think the cool thing about the big tournaments - if you look at IEM or ESL One - is that you look at them and you say 'I want to be that good. How do I get that good? And how do I get in a position where I am that good that I can play there?', and what's super cool about the national leagues on a local level is that it's a really good gateway to get there."
"So if you're really good at home you can enter our tournaments, and if you win our tournaments you can go play in our leagues, and if you win our leagues you can basically work your way up. You'll get noticed by the tournament organisers at the higher level, you'll get noticed by sponsors and brands, and it basically helps build your pathway up, and I think when you want to be in esports and you admire these pro players you think 'I want to do that', and ESL basically helps you get there, and I think that's really great."
Do you like what ESL does to promote grassroots competition?