ESL and Intel announce extended partnership, Intel Grand Slam offering $1m to one CS:GO team

Intel and ESL have announced a new partnership that’s extending the pair’s cooperation, and also introducing a $1m Intel Grand Slam.

The Intel Grand Slam is a new event that’ll award $1m to the first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team that can win four out of the last 10 $200,000 events that are held between Dreamhack and ESL.

During the 10 events, anyone that can defeat a potential Intel Grand Slam winner will also snag themselves $100,000, meaning that if a team has three wins and is in the final for the fourth, an opposing team defeating them will earn themselves $100,000.

It’s a confusing system, but it’ll add a lot of money to the pool for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams, giving them the chance to earn serious money.

“We have been one of the very first companies to believe in esports and have supported it for over 15 years,” said Intel CMO Steven Fund in a canned statement.

“This year, we have decided to take our commitment to the next level. We are excited to level-up our partnership with ESL, invest into the development of future esports stars, and create premier events like the Intel Grand Slam.

Intel will also be stepping up their technical partnership. The two company’s have been teaming up for a while now, but now Intel will be acting as ESL’s global technical partner. This means Intel will provide all tournament PC’s, in addition to technology for streaming. This partnership will extend to ESL’s majors, but also their amateur and grassroots events.