BLAST restructures prize pools amid coronavirus pandemic

16-9-2020 12:52

Prize pools for upcoming events will be lowered, but the overall payout will remain the same as the tournament organizer looks to provide stability in the ecosystem.

BLAST announced changes to its financial structure which will see them pay out more money to organizations — in the form of participation fees —, balancing that out by lowering tournament prize pools.

The tournament organizer confirmed that the total sum paid out will remain the same, but that the amendments made will "provide a more sustainable model for the broader industry" amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

BLAST revised their prize pools to help organizations during the pandemic

The CEO of BLAST partner team OG, JMR Luna, described the change as investing in the ecosystem which enables organization to develop infrastructure around the players, adding that "this change is crucial for the long term sustainability".

Robbie Douek, BLAST CEO, added that they "partner alongside the most progressive brands in esports, many of whom have also felt the impact of COVID-19", with this realignment helping not only them, but the broader ecosystem.

BLAST's next CS:GO season kicks off with the BLAST Premier Fall group stage in October, followed by the Showdown and Fall Final. The competition will be played separately in Europe and North America, with partner teams such as Vitality, OG, and Astralis confirmed for the group stage.

The partner teams, 12 in total, are the ones that will benefit from the changes initially through the participation fee increase, but BLAST announced that from the 2021 season onwards, non-partner teams will also be receiving a participation fee for each tournament.

With the newly announced prize pools, $150,000 for the 2020 Fall group stage and Showdown, and $425,000 for the Fall Final, the prize pool for the upcoming season has been lowered by $650,000, a 47% cut from the $1,375,000 per season initially announced in December of last year. The prize pool of the yearly Global Final event has also been cut by a third, from $1,500,000 to $1,000,000.

The prize money allocated to each event in BLAST Premier 2020 and 2021 is available below:

Fall Series 2020: $150,000
Fall Showdown 2020: $150,000
Fall Final 2020: $425,000
Global Final 2020: $1,000,000
Spring Series 2021: $150,000
Spring Showdown 2021: $162,500
Spring Final 2021: $425,000
Fall Series 2021: $150,000
Fall Showdown 2021: $162,500
Fall Final 2021: $425,000
Global Final 2021: $1,000,000

very cool! didn’t really state much in the report but looking forward to more info in the future

2020-09-16 12:54

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you did it men))

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I WIN

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2020-09-16 15:43

are you ok?

2020-09-16 15:48

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2020-09-16 15:52

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not ok

2020-09-16 17:07

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why are you ok

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Not ok

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2020-09-21 07:39

reported

2020-09-23 17:37

2020-09-16 12:52

2020-09-16 14:12

nice

Give fans money

2020-09-16 12:53

++1

2020-09-17 02:32

expected

2020-09-16 12:55

when do i get paid?

2020-09-16 13:04

Didn't ask.

2020-09-16 13:11

Hurr durr

2020-09-16 16:01

great news

2020-09-16 13:12

seems great

2020-09-16 13:13

why thay have to have separate participation fee? why not just change the price pool for example 50% is payed equally and 50% is payed by the placement?

2020-09-16 13:14

Because that prize money would still mostly go to the players. This redistribution is meant to help the organizations who pay player salaries but also other supporting staff (psychologist, social media, manager, videographer etc.) Not saying I agree or whatever, just explaining how it works

2020-09-16 13:33

I have no clue how much of price pool goes to players vs orgs. I once heard that 50/50 is common one but cant confirm it to be true.

2020-09-16 13:53

Usually it's 5/6 or 5/7 for the players, but in some orgs 100% of the prize money goes to the players (who partially share their winnings with coach)

2020-09-16 14:00

I think this is a fair ballpark approximation

2020-09-16 15:46

In dota teams it's mostly 70% Players / 30% org.

2020-09-16 16:57

30% cut??? xD

2020-09-16 13:15

off topic why can't Valve do the same Battle Pass (or however it calls) for Major like for TI in Dota? Not hard to do, ez money and higher prize pool, everybody likes that

well they did that viewer pass last major so I think they are working on the right formula. The money generated from that was given equally to all teams.

2020-09-16 13:25

I think they should make operation for every major and the money generated from the operation pass would be added to price pool. Viewer pass should be included in that operation pass. Also they could change so the money from stickers wouldnt all go to that team but rather 50% for the team and 50% to the price pool.

2020-09-16 13:27

And where's the money for Volvo? I hope you meant that 25% of total sum goes to teams, 25% to prize pool and 50% to Valve. I personally think that there should be no money for teams, all to prize pool.

2020-09-16 14:04

LUL Saving money by not having to pay for an arena, hotels, flights and more other shit and they lower the prize pool. Scammers

2020-09-16 13:18

lul 0 iq comment, read the article again

Online matches have on average less viewers = less income from sponsors

2020-09-16 13:34

true but overall less money is also being invested

2020-09-16 13:51

Well, you don't get the money from tickets. And that money covers more than cost of hosting the event.

2020-09-16 14:05

literal toilet shitter, can't read the article. The money is literally paid directly to orgs, rather than setting it as a prize pool.

2020-09-16 13:48

urban calling

2020-09-16 13:23

so we just going to forget about how sketchy blast is? please don't forgive this trash TO....

Except that they haven't been sketchy since last year and if you're that upset about a company that hasn't really hurt anyone then you're just fucking dumb lmao

2020-09-16 16:54

2020-09-17 15:04

?? HURT ANYONE? NEOM>>>>> ???

2020-09-24 04:17

Seems like it's all because they lost their sponsorship contract with that Saudi organisation because of pressure from fans. It's so fucking stupid....

Seems like a good deal for the partner teams especially. I really like this move tbh.

2020-09-16 13:50

Great decision, coming from "regular" sports, its always been crazy to me that its common that players recieve all the price money, while the org recieves little to none. In other sports, usually the team recieves all the money and the players get a significant bonus - which is in the long run a way more sustainable model, as the org can reinvest the money. If there'd be something like financial fairplay in esports (if it were applied reliably unlike by the FIFA), there'd basically be hardly any pro teams left. Even though most players will propably not like this change, this is a good and important step in the right decision to make the industry more attractive for orgs.

2020-09-16 14:19

if organisations were receiving most of the money, some players would not even join organisations, and they would just play for the prize money

2020-09-16 14:53

But the player's still get salaries right? Wouldn't it be more fair that players get their salaries, and a smaller % of the prize money. That way both the players and the org are happy. IMO of course.

2020-09-16 17:09

tbh it should go %50/%50 with organisation and players, thats just my opinion. Because players like xyp9x, dev1ce, stewie, coldzera etc. gained more money from prize money than they gained from their salaries. So they can just leave their organisation and keep earning %100 of the prize money, and it would not benefit the growth of csgo.

2020-09-16 18:23