GRID Announces $320,000 Prize Pool for HomeSweetHome Online Tournament
Amid the myriad cancellations of LAN tournaments due to Covid-19, GRID, an esports data company that also sponsors the United Masters League has announced its intentions to host an eight-week online tournament aptly named #HomeSweetHome.
“Being gamers, we all love our home environment so it’s nice to run an event where staff, players and fans are all in their natural environment, said Vice President of Sponsorships at GRID,” Charles Hanley-Nickolls.
Each week, there will be $40,000 up for grabs for the teams invited by GRID. So far, North, forZe, and Godsent have all confirmed their places with more teams expected to be announced in the coming days.
We are pumped to be supporting #CSGO starting real soon on https://t.co/siHc5WMwFm https://t.co/sipp9WjGSQ
— GRID (@GRIDesports) March 20, 2020
Over the course of the eight weeks, sixteen teams will battle it out in a double-elimination group stage which will decide who makes it into the playoffs (single-elimination). Each week, there will be six days on which the teams can play running from Tuesday to Sunday. The winners will collect $30,000 while the runners-up will take home $10,000.
With the ESL Pro League and Flashpoint underway, it will take some manoeuvring to make sure that matches overlap as little as possible.
“With regard to other events, TOs always try to sync to avoid clashes, [and we] can't always be perfect but we can work together. Esports still relies on everyone pulling in the same direction to some extent. We're not mature enough as an industry to start taking bites out of each other and expect to thrive,” Hanley-Nickolls said.
There are also plans to bring together the winners of each week’s tournament for a final showdown at the end of the series with more details expected in the near future. The tournament series will kick off between March 31 and April 5 and the last is expected to wrap up on or around May 24.