NA Dota is back in a big way in 2025 with ESL heading northeast.
Patient North American Dota 2 fans, who have been starved of LAN events in the MOBA, will be rewarded in 2025 as ESL has announced its return to the region with ESL One Raleigh kicking off in mid-April.
It has been a decade since ESL graced North America with a Dota 2 event, where Vega Squadron took down Team Secret to win ESL One New York. 3,342 days on, the organizer has revealed the North Carolina capital as the host for one of ESL's premier Dota 2 calendar events next year.
The drought is over for live NA Dota
It's not just an ESL drought that is broken with Raleigh next April. Outside of The International's return to Seattle in 2023, only one tournament has taken place in North America dating back to the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The PGL Arlington Major, won by Team Spirit, is the only offline tier one event to be held in the region in the past five years. It's also one of two non-TI LANs held in the region in the past five years (the other being Beyond The Summit's DOTA Summit 12 — classified as a tier two event — taking place in Los Angeles).
ESL was set to return to North America with ESL One Los Angeles in 2020 before the pandemic forced the event to be canceled.
It's not the chief excuse, but the lack of offline competition in North America has assuredly tanked interest in Dota 2 across the U.S. and Canada over the past few years. Nouns' exit earlier this month meant only Shopify Rebellion remained as the sole North American-based organization still in the higher tiers of Dota.
With no big names to barrack for and a lack of competition outside of the now-defunct DPC, the death of Dota in NA was heralded. But now, a glimpse of a revival takes shape thanks to ESL One Raleigh.
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North Carolina to host first big Dota 2 tournament in NA as part of ESL circuit
The 12 best teams ranked by ESL in its Pro Tour rankings will receive a direct invitation to Raleigh next April, where the champion will walk away with the lion's share of the million-dollar prize pool and crucial EPT points.
The Raleigh Convention Center is no stranger to hosting esports tournaments. The venue was the chief location for a Call of Duty League Major back in 2022 and numerous Halo Championship Series events over the years.
Interestingly, the official ESL schedule for 2025 lists Raleigh as an "ESL One Europe" event. This graphic was circulating around May when ESL first revealed its Dota 2 calendar for 2025.
Later in the year we'll see another ESL One event take place in Asia, but otherwise, the organizer appears to be giving Europe a miss — apart from its online DreamLeague seasons run from a central studio but played out online.
Tickets for ESL One Raleigh 2025 go on sale November 28 and begin at $99 USD. More details regarding ticket bundles and inclusions can be found on the ESL event website. ESL One Raleigh will run from April 11 to 13, 2025.
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