The bearer of this year's International Aegis of Champions will be receiving more than $10 Million in prize money.
The International 2017, Dota 2's grand annual tournament, has been able to break yet another record. After breaking the record for being the largest event in electronic sports' history surpassing the $20.7M prize pool from last year, The International 2017 has reached a new milestone. TI 7 has now, an eight digit prize pool for the five players that will reign supreme. With the TI 7 Group Stage kicking off in less than a hundred hours, the achievement comes at a time when we couldn't be more hyped about it!
It's great to see how far esports has been able to come. Ten years ago, esports wasn't even a word, and even if it was, it was a particularly dirty one. Gamers were looked down upon as low-life, overweight nerds. Now, let's draw a comparison of the International 2017 prize money to other conventional sports tournaments:
Recently, Roger Federer was able to subdue Marin Cililc in the grand finals of this year's Wimbledon to claim his eighth Wimbledon title. Achieving this feat was able to grant Roger Federer a sum of $2.9 Million. Germany, who were able to defeat Argentina in the FIFA World Cup 2014, were able to win $35 Million worth of prize money. Now this may seem like a lot, as compared to the International's $10 Million, but if we keep into context the number of players in each team, the prize per player for the quadrennial FIFA World Cup (not counting substitutes and assuming organizations had no share) equals almost $3.1 Million while the prize per player for the winning team of the International will be a bit more than $2M per player. Lastly, if we draw a comparison to cricket's grand tournament - the ICC Cricket World Cup - the winners of 2014, Australia, were able to win almost $4.15M, or almost $370K per player, significantly lesser than the International 2017's $2 Million per player payout.
| Sports Tournaments | Sport | Winner's Prize |
|---|---|---|
| FIFA World Cup 2014 | Soccer | ~$3.1M per player |
| Wimbledon 2017 | Tennis | $2.9M |
| World Series (MLB) Baseball | Baseball | ~2.5M$ per player |
| The International 2017 | Dota 2 | ~$2M per player |
| ICC Cricket World Cup 2014 | Cricket | $370K per player |
| LoL 2016 World Championship | League Of Legends | $338K per player |
| National Football League (Super Bowl Ll) | American Football | $107K per player |
The International 2017
The International 2017 will take place at KeyArena, Seattle Washington. Eighteen of the best teams from around the world will compete starting August 2nd with the group stage. Two teams will be eliminated and sixteen teams will advance to the main event set to take place from August 7-12th. When the dust has settled, one team will walk away with the Aegis of Champions and the lion's share of the record breaking $22 million prize pool.
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