Valve is already on the hunt for cities that want to host the 11th Annual International Dota 2 Championships, or "The International" for short. The International will be held in the Summer of 2021. The first event was held in Cologne, Germany in the far off time of August 2011. Though already exceptionally popular right from the get-go, The International has only grown in scale in each of the following years.
The International has regularly bested its own record for having the largest prize pool in all of esports. Heck, it's even surpassed the prize pool for many professional sporting events, period. This is mainly due to the fact that a very significant portion of it comes from the community. As if to prove that point, 2019's event had a prize pool that surpassed $34 million. As you may have safely assumed, that amount made it the largest prize pool ever after it surpassed the $25.5M prize pool for The International 2018.
As part of their pitch to potential cities, Valve notes that viewership and attendance for The International "rivals that of the NFL Superbowl, U.S. Open Golf Championship, and the Eurovision Song Contest." Besides Cologne, other cities that have played host to the event include Seattle, Shanghai, and Vancouver.
Besides the main event, Valve notes that The International also includes "a variety of entertainment performances." These other performances include musicians, DJs, acrobats, and more. I kind of expected that there were musical performances and perhaps even a DJ for those downtimes between matches, but acrobats? The International really does have it all.
If you run a city, Valve wants you to know that each match during The International includes two teams of five going against each other in a little game called Dota 2. Dota 2 is actually one of the world's most played online games. Just in 2019 it had over 14 million players.
Those who are serious about potentially hosting The International in 2021, should find the included PDF document below. All proposals should be submitted by March 31, 2020.
