DreamHack extends Sport1 rights deal, signs Blizzard tie-up with ESL

German sports broadcaster Sport1 has renewed its agreement with esports organisation DreamHack, with content to be distributed across its eSports1 pay-television channel.

The channel will show Dota 2 major ‘DreamLeague Season 13 – The Leipzig Major’ from January 24-26, while a second, to-be-announced event will air during the spring as part of DreamLeague Season 14.

Coverage will also include highlights of the two competitions through the bwin Inside eSports magazine show, which will be shown on eSports1 and on the free-to-air Sport1 channel.

The eSports1 channel went live a year ago with a portfolio of rights that included events organised by the ESL promoter across the League of Legends, Dota 2, and Clash Royale titles.

Sport1 will also serve as the media partner of the DreamHack Leipzig event for the third year in a row and will once again provide live coverage from the tournament, which will feature a prize fund of $1m (€898,000).

In other news, DreamHack and ESL have signed a three-year strategic agreement with Blizzard Entertainment. The link-up will result in the creation of new ESL Pro Tour formats for StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged, with Blizzard to provide respective prize pools of over $1.8m and over $200,000 for the first season.

The new StarCraft II tour will feature tournaments on at least four different continents, with the global finals to relocate from BlizzCon to the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice.

ESL and DreamHack introduced the ESL Pro Tour for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive last September. ESL and DreamHack both sit under the umbrella of Sweden-based entertainment group MTG.