Major League Gaming (MLG), the well-known host of national and international contests, announced last week that the MLG Counter-Strike:Global Offensive Major Championship: Columbus will be held at the MLG Arena and Nationwide Arena from March 29 until April 3, 2016 and will have a $1,000,000 prize pool.
It will be the first-ever Major held in North America.
The tournament will kick off on Tuesday, March 29 at the MLG Arena where 16 of the best CS:GO teams from around the globe will battle it out over three days for the group stage matches.
Following the group stage, the action will continue on April 1 at the state-of-the-art Nationwide Arena, home of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets.
Over the course of three days, the remaining teams will compete in front of thousands of fans during the Quarterfinals on Friday, Semifinals on Saturday, and the Grand Finals and All-Star Match on Sunday.
Enormous fan base means enormous prize pool
Said Adam Apicella of MLG:
“For our first CS:GO event we brought the competition to the Aspen X Games.
We wanted to bring the game back to North American fans in a big way, and hosting a Major in front of thousands of spectators at Nationwide Arena is an exciting way to do that.”
Valve, the game’s creator, has recently increased the prize pool for major competitions from $250,000 to $1 million. Having seen the game’s growing popularity and CS:GO becoming one of the titles with a massive fan base, the company decided to bring the prize money closer to games with similar popularities – namely League of Legends and Dota 2.
“CS:GO tournaments are now among the largest eSports events in the world, drawing global audiences of millions of viewers, filling massive venues, and garnering higher prize pools. Professional CS:GO has grown, and the CS:GO Major Championships are about to grow with it,” Apicella remarked.
For those who prefer watching matches from home, the Major event will also be streamed live on multiple streaming platforms, featuring commentary and analysis from the top talents in the CS:GO community.
Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster.com starting on December 3, 2015.
A special offer by wagering website Betway
In light of the upcoming Major, esports betting site Betway has prepared a special offer for new customers.
A new customer that makes a minimum deposit of $10 (or whichever currency the customer is using) and places a fourfold, pre-match bet of at least $5 on the selected four teams – Fnatic, Natus Vincere, NIP, and Virtus Pro – to win their CS:GO matches, will get an enhanced multiple of 6.0 on their winnings.
The mentioned matches will take place on Tuesday March 29 and Wednesday March 30.
