This weekend, the world’s largest LAN tournament returns to Bucharest, the first stop on a year-long tour around Europe to find the top players in StarCraft 2. But for Swedish fans of the Dreamhack Open, it’ll be a whole lot more.
In the past, mainstream news coverage of esports events has been half-hearted, at best. This year, however, Sweden’s national TV station, SVT, is throwing its full muscle into broadcasting the event.
On top of having both English and Swedish commentators for the event, SVT will be streaming the Grand Finals on SVT1, Sweden’s largest television channel.
Headlining the broadcasts will be pro players Marcus “Thorzain” Eklöf and Madeleine “Maddelisk” Leander.
Dreamhack Bucharest, which is just the beginning of a six-part tour throughout Europe, will host 96 players all taking aim at the $25,000 prize pool and 4,000 WCS points up for grabs. WCS points can be earned throughout all major
StarCraft 2 events determine seeding at the World Finals at BlizzCon in November. In total, Dreamhack Open offers $200,000 to StarCraft pros.
Esports often bring in hundreds of thousands—and occasionally millions—of viewers via online streams at sites like Twitch and Azubu, and the industry is growing rapidly. So don’t expect this to be the last time a major network pushes in behind an esport.
