Cloud9 and Astralis speak out about ESL Pro League and B Site League

In a report from Jarek "Dekay" Lewis, Cloud9 and Astralis spoke out about the ESL Pro League and B Site League competition. DeKay's report comes just before a three-day summit in Paris, France is set to take place with ESL and quite a few CS:GO organizations to discuss the ESL Pro League. DeKay asked Dan Fiden, Cloud9's president, about why they wanted to form and compete in the B Site League:

"Two reasons: First, we need to be clear: CS as structured today doesn’t make economic sense for teams or TOs. In an effort to fix it, TOs have been trying too hard to make it recognizable or palatable to companies unfamiliar with esports in general and CS specifically. This is what things like changing CT and T to offense and defense are about, and it’s why most CS looks like a half-assed NFL broadcast. We wanted to go deep instead of wide, and we wanted to accept and lean into who we think the CS community is and what they love. It’s why we partnered with Thorin so early, for example. Second, we never intended to avoid a specific TO, and our project is not against anyone TO.

"I personally spent months working one-on-one with the management of ESL trying to find a middle ground that would work for them and lead the teams down a path to economic sustainability. Unfortunately, those conversations failed. The reason for us is that we were unwilling to grant ESL the broad exclusivity (that) reporters like you are talking about now. We ultimately partnered with FACEIT for a number of reasons, but one of them was that they understood that, in order for CS to thrive in the long term, everyone in the ecosystem needs a path to economic viability — TOs, teams, and players."

An Astralis spokesperson also spoke with DeKay about their intentions on joining one of the leagues:

"We have yet to make a final decision. There are a lot of good thoughts behind the new league formats and both concepts pose a potential large improvement for the players and the teams, providing the necessary long-term sustainability for all parties. However, we should all be aware that handing the keys to one player could come with a cost to the ecosystem and hurt Counter-Strike at-large, so we have to tread with care."