With the Swedish Minister of Interior denying the request to reclassify TI10 as an elite sporting event, the location and date of the centennial The International is once again in jeopardy.
TI10: The International may no longer take place in Sweden
Valve posted an official update on the Dota 2 blog detailing the Swedish Sports Federation’s decision to vote against accepting esports into the sports federation, which had a direct impact on their ability to host The International 10 in the currently announced timeslot, August 5-15. The tournament was going to place in Stockholm’s Avicii Arena before this abrupt change of plans.
Over the course of the past year, Stockholm Live and Visit Stockholm continued to reassure us in our regular and constant communications with them that The International – Dota 2 Championships qualified for the same exemptions other elite sporting events there received.
An Important Update on TI10: The International – Dota 2 Championships in Sweden – valve blog post
However, despite previous reassurances, we were informed two weeks ago that the Swedish Sports Federation had just voted not to accept esports into the sports federation.
This was followed up by a request to Sweden’s Minister of the Interior to reclassify TI10 as an elite sporting event with the requisite exemptions to COVID-related rules. This means that anyone aiming to procure a visa related to The International would be denied.
Valve are actively looking for alternative solutions and they are confident that they “will have a solution […] to hold TI10 in Europe this year”. With multiple high-profile international sporting events, most notably Euro 2020 and the Roland Garros hosted around the continent, the company is not expected to have significant struggles with finding a new host for the prestigious Dota 2 tournament. Nevertheless, the news is a setback and could be seen as somewhat of a loss of prestige for the company.
For now, all they could confirm was that the TI qualifiers will take place as originally scheduled (starting June 23) and the summer Nemestice event will be available to players in-game later this week.
What does this mean for the PGL Stockholm CS:GO Major?
No one knows yet. At the time of writing, there is no similar post on the CS:GO blog related to the subject. Unlike The International, the PGL Stockholm Major is slated to take place at a later date, between October 23 and November 7.
Though this might seem like an easing of pressures at first glance, our current understanding of COVID suggests that it is a seasonal virus with larger waves in the autumn and the winter. Whether this, coupled with new strains, could lead to new lockdowns later in 2021 remains to be seen.
The news comes as the CS:GO esports scene is beginning to emerge from the online era as the upcoming IEM Cologne 2021 tournament (formerly known as the prestigious ESL One Cologne) featuring 24 events in a studio environment, albeit still without crowds. This event begins on July 6, featuring a slate of international teams from Europe, the CIS region and the Americas.
