bsl: "It is only natural that ESL hosts another Major at some point"

Jonas "⁠bsl⁠" Alsaker Vikan, who represented some high-profile teams in Counter-Strike 1.6, including Made in Brazil and the iconic NoA, was appointed by ESL as its new Tournament Director in August, almost four years after co-hosting the first Major, DreamHack Winter 2013, alongside Scott "SirScoots" Smith.

With the Pro League Finals about to start, we sat down with the Norwegian to get to know his first impressions of his new job and to discuss topics concerning ESL missing three Majors in a row, the issues with locked rosters ahead of the Odense event, the plans for IEM Katowice 2018, and more.

You have been with ESL for four months now. What are your initial impressions of the job and the state of the scene, compared to when you co-hosted the first Major, in late 2013?

When I did that Major in 2013 I felt a sense of ...resurgence within the scene. There were some dark years after the credit crunch for esports. CS as a game had also struggled, even though I always thought the concept was something that would always work, no matter the level of the visuals. However, the first version of GO was very raw. That Major was kind of the first sign that the glory years of 2001-2007 could return. And they have, both in terms of richness of competition and size - but they have also adjusted financially so that players, casters and other people in the industry can actually make a very good living off of this.

Now that people are getting paid I think it extremely important for everyone; players, managers, talent, organizers, pundits - to remember where it, or we came from, that there were some dark and difficult years - and to recognize and be cognizant about the reason why this all could come back tenfold just like we dreamt: the fans that spend their time and hard-earned money to follow the sport, its stars and the competition so passionately. With great power comes great responsibility.

Could you clarify us about what your job entails? What are your main responsibilities?

I oversee all of our pro competitions at the highest level: ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters and Pro League. My responsibilities lie in execution and increasing the quality of all of these [tournaments], no matter where we are holding them. Part of the latter is trying to liaise with teams and their representatives to solicit feedback and ignite discussion.

I make or partake in decisions and rulings in tournament-related matters such as equipment, venue, player logistics and any disputes that arise. I uphold the rules and contribute to amend them from time to time. Also, I try to keep my ears to the ground and engage with fans through various avenues.

bsl has been working for ESL since August

You were gone for a while. Could you explain to us what you did between that Major and your appointment by ESL?

I was working exclusively as an investigative journalist in a “normal” newspaper. The job meant spending 2-5 months on investigative projects on subjects like online distribution of anabolic steroids, organized sale of narcotics from the dark web, the overseas finances and properties of a meditation society and how the FBI illegally hacked over 40 Norwegian citizens who were arrested because of it without anyone knowing about the American involvement.

The work was very difficult, but also incredibly interesting and rewarding. I was lucky and good enough to be given some awards, chief among them a Skup-diploma, considered one of Norway's highest honors for investigative journalism.

I was never truly gone, though, always reading and watching esports from the shadows ;)

There has been some speculation about the possibility of ESL hosting another big event in Brazil, where the EPL Season 4 Finals took place. Could you shed some light on this? As someone with a soft spot for Brazil, you would certainly be thrilled if this became a reality…

I think I will take a pass on this one and let speculation run rampant

Last month, PGL CEO Silviu Stroie took a jab at ESL and accused it of trying to monopolise the event circuit with “a very mediocre, at best, CS:GO product”. What are your thoughts on his comments?

I am sure Silviu is a nice guy but I haven't met him yet. He is obviously entitled to his opinion. Now, I can only speak for the three months I have been here, and I don't feel that four dramatic hours of SK and Liquid fighting down to the very last round for a spot in the finals in New York, or NiP vs FaZe's epic duel over five maps in Oakland was mediocre, at best.

The next IEM World Championship event will have $500,000 - twice as much as this year’s event. Does this represent an effort from ESL to put this tournament on the same level as some of the biggest competitions out there, in terms of prize money? Do you think that the amount of money at stake did not match the significance that this event carries?

IEM Katowice has defined this era of stadium-sized events for esports. The event stands out from the crowd just through the sheer weight of the past and the history of the tournament. The memories created here make the venue take on a life of its own. Upping the ante with more prize-money is just another way that ESL tries to keep elevating esports, as we have been doing since way before introducing IEM Katowice in 2013.

For someone like myself, who has been a part of esports for so long and seen so many cool things along the journey it is beyond exciting to be able to finally attend my first one of these.

Since ESL One Cologne 2016, two companies have done Majors: ELEAGUE and PGL, with the former set to host the first Major of 2018. What is the company’s view on being overlooked by Valve, and do you believe that ESL could host a Major again in the near future?

Personally, I was extremely excited for the plans we had for the January Major. I think we went in with a brave and cool direction with our proposal and the event would have surely delivered on the ESL mission: creating legendary esports moments.

Valve saw it differently, and this is their prerogative. It`s disappointing, but you congratulate ELEAGUE, wish them well for their event and move forward. Of course, I see ESL hosting a Major again, at this point in esport history it is only natural that it happens at some point. We just have to keep working hard on improving our offering.

bsl playing for the iconic NoA in the CPL Winter 2003 final

The upcoming ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals will be marred by roster issues, with Liquid fielding coach zews, while Astralis weighed up the possibility of withdrawing from the event before calling in RUBINO. What are your thoughts on the issue of roster locks? Is ESL looking into the possibility of updating its rulebook regarding this, to make sure the teams play with the possible rosters?

The rules for the particular event in question are created by the teams themselves, through WESA. This is a fact that seems to get lost every time a team wants someone else to play because of a difficult situation.

Look, I have, through my own playing career, walked in the same shoes as these players. I understand that you want your best lineup, and I also know how playing with someone who normally is not part of your roster damages your chances of winning. Teams want to win, that is their sole focus when tournament time comes around, and it`s one hundred percent understandable.

One of the failures and knocks on esports from way back has been a lack of stability, of team-hopping and flip-flopping rosters, and it has been something that both organizations and players have wanted to address. The current system for Pro League is a culmination of that. I don't think any system is perfect, and I do want to see each top team with optimal preparation and at their very best. Sometimes we don't get that, and, in that sense, esports have come closer to being a normal sport where teams deal with injured players, suspended players, sick players etc all the time. You are probably getting now that I am in favour of something that puts a limit on total freedom surrounding roster changes. That does not mean I am not following the debate on Twitter, in columns and interviews. One of the things we normally do during the Pro League finals is to hold a meeting with the players. There is also a WESA members meeting there. After these discussions, I guess we will all see if the discussion has moved in a specific direction.

Youtube is the official broadcast partner of the ESL Pro League until the end of Season 6. What is the company’s official take on this partnership, which began at the start of the year? Could we be looking at a return to Twitch for Season 7, or is ESL still exploring different scenarios?

The arrangement with YouTube has definitely allowed us to get more value for our content along with a constant increase in viewership and even creating more revenue for WESA teams and players. As we are still in negotiations for the upcoming seasons, I can unfortunately not comment on our future plans yet.

What sort of innovations can we expect from ESL next year?

I could tell you, but I would have to kill you.

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