It’s difficult to imagine but small PC clubs and rare video game exhibitions were a venue for esports tournaments ten years ago. Prize pools were not bigger than a few thousand dollars and information was received by viewers only with the help of forums.
To the esports fans’ joy, these times have passed. Today, there is a decent esports arena in every megapolis. Our article will tell about the best of them.
Blizzard Arena
It’s a small paradise for every fan of Blizzard games. Despite the hall is modest in terms of size, viewers notice a high level of organizing of broadcasts and presentations of new games. Matches of Overwatch League, the first top esports league by Blizzard, are hosted there every week. And the arena is transformed into a tavern every three-four months where Hearthstone players once again fight for a prize.
Commerzbank Arena
Rental of sports constructions for the esports has become a wide-spread thing. It shows a real level of organizers because it’s not easy to make a place, which matches standards of an esports tournament.
Despite this, ESL employees have managed to make Eintracht’s home stadium a perfect place for esports events. After the big success of the Frankfurt Major, tournaments have been organized in other disciplines: Starcraft II, CS:GO, Hearthstone, and LoL.
Banc of California
It’s strange but such game as Fortnite still doesn’t have a single format of tournaments. The football stadium Banc of California has become popular in the Fortnite community after the company Epic Games had invited popular streamers, sportsmen, and stars of showbusiness to Fortnite Pro-Am as another experiment.
This venue was chosen for a reason. Two factors made an impact on the decision: the video game exhibition E3 was carried out nearby, at which the release of Fortnite on Switch was announced; only this arena was able to include one hundred players and a few thousand players.
Epic Games didn’t stop on achieved and hosted a very unusual event. People in pajamas, throwing of t-shirts and pancakes into the crowd: it’s difficult to believe in this if you haven’t seen it by yourself.
Yota Arena
Yota Arena is the most modern venue for hosting esports events in Russia. This stadium area of 5 thousand square meters looks more like a cinema from the future than an esports arena: comfortable places for viewers, high-end gaming PCs, shops and a restaurant, which comply with a particular theme.
The owners of the arena don’t stand still and contribute to the development of the esports. They host tournaments for amateurs and professionals, carry out large Russian competitions.
Kiev Cybersport Arena
The Kiev stadium continues being a venue for tournaments in main Valve’s esports disciplines, despite it was built in far 2010. It is considered to be the first specialized esports arena in Europe for a reason. Strangely enough, the Female CS:GO Cup was the first esports event to take place at Cybersport Arena. Then, it began hosting Starcraft championships and CS:GO tournaments and The Kiev Major has become one of the most famous events with one of the best finals in the history of Dota.
CSKA Arena
The organizers of the EPICENTER series outdo themselves every year, they create something incredible at the stadium «CSKA Arena» («Ice Palace» in the past). None of the blockbusters can compete with the opening ceremony when the stadium becomes the coliseum covered in fire.
Perhaps, there are such great performances due to this atmosphere and mood of participants of tournaments. The outsiders from Winstrike have almost beaten the Dota 2 world champions and the team Virtus.Pro has made an impressive battle against SK Gaming.
Seattle KeyArena
The Seattle Arena was very popular and loved among viewers because the main Dota tournament, The International, took place at it. Just like the famous Staples Center, which was used for hosting LoL tournaments, the stadium was reconstructed due to the decision of the government, having made an emphasis to a basketball theme and social needs. It will be closed till 2020 and The International will be hosted all over the world: from Vancouver to Shanghai.
Sang-am World Cup Stadium
The Koreans are an incredible nation, they combine developed prudence and love to the esports. The football stadium Sang-am was reconstructed 15 years ago. It transformed into a large arena where concerts, national celebrations, and esports tournaments are carried out. 2014 was a special date in the history of the stadium. Sang-am Stadium has become a part of the esports history, having gathered 45 thousand people in the final of the League of Legends season.
Mercedes-Benz Arena
This stadium will become a venue for The International 2019. Valve didn’t need much time to choose a venue because the Asian region is more than half of the Dota 2 audience.
But not everyone is satisfied with the choice of the venue. The worst tournament in the Dota 2 history was hosted at this arena three years ago.
Bad organizers, the guys from Perfect World, are responsible for this. The tournament had an awful schedule: the players were pulled out from training, demanding them to be at media-activities, which were often suddenly canceled. Food poisonings, the disappearance of gaming devices and, finally, bad handling with players’ personal stuff have led to the collapse of Perfect World’s image. The famous Chinese Dota player, Bai “rOtK” Fan had the worst consequence, his keys from Maserati disappeared. It was unclear why he didn’t use public transport to get to the home tournament but it’s clear that Valve has refused from all kind of partnership with Perfect World after such a failure.
Spodek Arena
Spodek has turned into the main cyberarena in Eastern Europe from an unsightly venue for a local hockey team. Such big organizers of tournaments as ESL and IEM host Dota 2 and CS:GO competitions there every month. This stadium remembers a lot: the first and the last triumph of the Polish five at CS:GO Majors, «the total Dota» shown by Virtus.Pro and Pasha Biceps’ tears who has recently finished the career.