Is one of the most important e-sports tournaments coming to Germany? After Sweden’s cancellation, the ESBD is courting The International with vigor.
Update June 23, 2021 (5pm): Via Twitter Digital Minister of State Dorothee Bär (CSU) and Bavaria’s Digital Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) have pledged their support for a bid by the local venue to host the major e-sports event The International.
Germany would be the venue of the Dota 2 World Championship for the second time after 2011. Previous hosts: China (Shanghai / 2019), Canada (Vancouver / 2018) and the USA (Seattle / until 2017).
Message from June 23, 2021 (11:30 a.m.): “An important update on TI10: The International – Dota 2 Championships in Sweden”.: The headline on the official website of the online game seems innocuous. But in fact, the organizer of the major e-sports tournament – the US studio Valve – has a massive problem: the event is unlikely to take place in Stockholm as planned.
Background: Contrary to what was discussed in advance with the regional and local authorities, the tournament does not fall under the exemptions that apply to major sporting events. The Swedish sports federation has also decided against including e-sports in the sports federation – in other words, a situation comparable to that in Germany.
The Swedish Ministry of the Interior immediately rejected the request to reclassify The International as an “elite sporting event.” As a result, neither players nor attendants nor staff from the organizer would receive a sports visa in advance. Upon entry, individual border officials would decide whether people from countries outside the EU would be allowed to enter at all.
Sweden’s government also feels unable to help in this specific case. Therefore, Valve has decided to look for alternative venues in Europe so that the tournament can still take place at all this year.
As the white knight in distress, Germany could rush to the rescue – after all, Cologne already hosted the premiere of The International as part of Gamescom 2011. Since then, the Dota 2-In 2019, the teams competed for prize money of 34 million dollars, the equivalent of almost 29 million euros. This year, the prize money is $40 million.
The E-Sport-Bund Deutschland (ESBD) brings its own location into play and strongly promotes a comeback of The International: “We have a long history of successful e-sports events in Germany that are respected worldwide”, knows Matthias Remmert aka ‘Knochen’, who heads the organizer department at the ESBD. “On an international level, our members are known as reliable organizers and we would be happy to welcome The International back to Germany after ten years.”
In any case, there is no shortage of possible arenas: The Lanxess Arena (Cologne), the Barclaycard Arena (Hamburg), the Commerzbank Arena (Frankfurt) and the Mercedes-Benz Arena (Berlin) have already been the venues for major e-sports battles.
It is also possible that The International 2021 will be a more than adequate replacement for the League of Legends-European Championship, which should have taken place in Munich in 2021. In a dispute over the financing, the city council including Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) had decided against hosting the event – much to the annoyance of the state government. Finally, Digital Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) is to bring a major tournament to the Free State on behalf of Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU): The Bavarian cabinet approved a corresponding plan in October 2019.
A visa problem like in Sweden would at least be eliminated: It is true that e-sports – contrary to what politicians have been promising for years – is neither recognized as a non-profit per se nor classified as a sport. Nevertheless, foreign professional players can also pursue their profession in Germany: The German Foreign Office has adjusted the guidelines accordingly.
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