According to a report from Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis for DBLTAP, the Esports Championship Series for CS:GO will soon cease operations as FACEIT will instead be partnering with the upcoming, yet-to-be-officially-named B Site League.
After eight illustrious seasons, the Esports Championship Series is shutting down. This news comes as reports come in revealing the producers of ECS, FACEIT, are partnering with a new, upcoming CSGO league, unofficially titled the “B Site” league.
The development was first reported by Jarek ‘Dekay’ Lewis for DBLTAP, who says multiple sources confirmed that FACEIT had signed an agreement with B Site Inc to run production for the upcoming league, which would bring an end to their ECS endeavor.
The partnership between the established production company and the new B Site organization mirrors the collaboration between ESL and DreamHack, who announced back in 2019 that they would work together to form the ESL Pro Tour for 2020.
DeKay reports that numerous prominent CSGO teams have already committed to the B Site league, including Cloud 9, MIBR, Gen.G, Dignitas, and MAD Lions, and that eventually, the league will consist of twelve teams in total.
DBLTAP initially reported that Astralis would be joining this league as well, but the team’s in-game leader Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander tweeted that nothing had yet been decided for the dominant Danish roster.
This isnt true at all btw. The Astralis team hasnt decided anything yet about what league they will participate in.
Could be ESL, could be B-site. NOTHING is decided for us. https://t.co/AQOW5NYcqn
— Łukasz Rossander (@gla1ve_csgo) December 16, 2019
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FACEIT ran eight seasons of ECS, with two regular seasons in both Europe and North America, and the best teams from each region meeting in the Finals at the end of the season. Astralis won the last finals, winning Season 8 with a victory over Team Liquid. They won three of the last four – winning four in total.
The company also ran production for the FACEIT London major at the end of 2018 – their only major so far. Astralis won that event as well, winning the grand finals over Natus Vincere.
The B Site league has the potential to run into scheduling conflicts, as its regular-season matches might overlap with ESL Pro Tour and ESL Pro League events. One of the league’s already committed teams, MIBR, competes in the BLAST Premier series as well.
DeKay reported for Dexerto back in September that ESL Pro League had introduced very strict exclusivity rules for its 2020 Pro Tour.
So far there has been no announcement or statement from FACEIT, ECS, nor any of their personalities regarding the ceasing of operations.