How much does Dota 2 tournament organization cost and who benefits from it?
Author: Hawk Live LLC
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To organize and hold a Dota 2 tournament, large amounts of funds are needed that go well beyond the prize pool. However, even with massive expenses, the number of competitive events in this discipline of cybersport keeps growing. In this article, we will look at what it costs to organize a Dota 2 tournament and what are the benefits of holding such competitions.
How much does it cost to organize a tier 1 Dota 2 tournament?
According to the calculations of the famous Dota 2 guide author Torte de Lini, the organization of a Dota 2 tournament with 16 teams and duration of 11 - 12 days will cost from 2 to 3 million dollars. At the same time, he noted that the most significant part of the costs is the payment of accommodation and transportation costs of participants, as well as the solution of technical problems, which he refers to the construction of the stage, payment of technical staff. The prize fund is in third place in his expenses. According to his calculations, the teams will have to spend 580 thousand dollars on accommodation alone.
An estimate of the cost of organizing a Dota 2 tournament in 2025:
Expenditure item | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
Venue organization | 400 000 - 900 000 |
Transportation and accommodation of teams | 400 000 - 1 000 000 |
Equipment rental and transportation | 300 000 - 500 000 |
Staff salaries | 200 000 - 400 000 |
Prize fund | 1 000 000 - 5 000 000 |
Total | ~2 000 000 - 8 000 000 |
According to information from Ben Noxville Stinuizen, Valve allocated a record $10 million in 2015 - 2016 to organize Dota 2 tournaments. The same amount was allocated for prize money. However, already in 2017 the amount of funds allocated was halved, and last year the company canceled the system of majors altogether.
Credit: X/Noxville
How much does it cost to organize a tier-2 tournament?
Organizing tournaments of dash-2 level is cheaper, but still requires the same expenses. In this case, the organizers save on the stage arrangement or simply rent a modern room equipped for gamings. Since such tournaments are faster than dash-1 events and often with fewer participants, the organizers save on accommodation. The prize pool at such events is smaller and ranges from 100 thousand to half a million dollars.
According to the calculations of the Canadian organizer of tournaments on Dota 2 Bill Elafros, the event with the participation of 8 dash-2 teams with a duration of 6 - 7 days and a minimum prize pool will cost from 667,750 to 1 million dollars. He listed the prize pool, venue organization, hotel and flight costs as major expenses. However, if the prize fund or the number of participants increases, the costs could increase dramatically.
Cost item | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
Stage construction | 200 000 - 400 000 |
Transportation and accommodation of teams | 300 000 - 500 000 |
Equipment rental and transportation | 150 000 - 250 000 |
Staff salaries | 100 000 - 200 000 |
Prize fund | 100 000 - 500 000 |
Total | ~850 000 - 2 000 000 |
However, it should be noted that dash-2 tournaments are more often held online, and only the largest events are played on stage, which eliminates some of the costs.
How much does it cost to organize a tier-3 Dota 2 tournament?
Tir-3 tournaments are much cheaper than large events, and their organizers significantly save on expenses. Most of these tournaments are held in online format. Only a few international events are played in LAN mode. Nevertheless, even in this situation, the tournament is most often held not on a stage with spectators, but in a room equipped for cyber sports competitions.
In this case, if the event is held in online format, the organizer spends only on the organization of broadcasting and server operation, as well as forming the prize pool.
Cost item | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
Premises rent | 10 000 - 50 000 |
Transportation and accommodation of teams | 50 000 - 100 000 |
Staff salaries | 20 000 - 50 000 |
Prize fund | 10 000 - 50 000 |
Total | ~30 000 - 250 000 |
Distribution of expenses for organizing a Dota 2 tournament
If we plot the distribution of expenses for organizing a Dota 2 tournament, we can conclude that the prize pool, transportation costs and accommodation of participants make up the majority of the amount needed to organize the event. Building the stage and organizing the transportation of equipment and payment for the work of the organizing staff are also an important part of the expenses.
How much do organizers of Dota 2 tournaments earn?
The organizers’ earnings and expenses are associated with the scale of the even and the width of the attracted audience. As noted in an interview with Vitaly “v1lat” Volochai, it is quite a challenge to cover organizational costs even with a multichannel income approach. However, this is not the case with large tournament operators who have competent management and are able to attract profitable long-term contracts because they cultivate steady income.
Earnings of all Dota 2 tournament organizers are these, irrespective of the scale events.
Sponsorship and advertising contracts. Major corporations pay a premium for placement of their logos and advertisements on official broadcasts, on-site at the event, and as digital banners. These contracts constitute the major revenue source for the tournament operators and generate millions of dollars a year.
Sale of media rights. Revenue comes from selling the broadcasts of the tournaments to studios who specialize in third-party coverage of the contests.
Issuing tickets and selling premium broadcast access. If the event is hosted on the premises, fans buy tickets for the last matches in bulk. It is also typical for organizations to sell accounts for premium broadcasts with additional functions and without commercial breaks.
Apportioning of open prize money pools. Professional tournament managers collect sponsorship money and form prize pools for the tournaments. Usually, a certain percentage of the collected funds goes to the organizer of the competition.
Partnership agreements with Valve. Developers often fund these tournaments with revenue from themed in-game sales.
Who profits from Dota 2 tournament organization?
Based on the statements made above, it is pretty evident that cost recuperation of a tournament is very challenging leading to games being organized by large tournament operators willing to sign long term sponsoring agreements. ESL, PGL, WePlay, Esports World Cup Foundation or Fissure are all companies that organize many other events in different cybersports disciplines and offer multi-million dollar prizes for their competitions.
While Valve was certainly one of the organizers of tournaments in the early days, the game developers started to let others take the lead after the cancellation of DPC. In 2024 Valve was only a co-organizer, along with PGL, of TI13.
It is important to note that however, even if Valve prohibited advertising from bookmakers, these companies still participate indirectly in tournaments by forming separate companies that work under their brands as tournament operators.
Final thought
The expenditure for organizing Dota 2 tournaments is hefty, yet return on investment is not efficient. Such initiatives are only regularly undertaken by major-scale tournament operators who have enduring sponsorship contracts.
