On comes Season 7.... or maybe not?

ESEA has announced Sign ups for it's Season 7 campaign alongside a slew of new features and announcements that on top of a larger prize pot also includes the ever so tasty to talk about threat of not supporting usl.  Yea there's a catch, and its really quite simple - ESEA is asking that the TF2 Community supports ESEA by signing up 50 teams into the Open division, and considering that last season ESEA had 40 this doesn't seem like too big of a stretch.  One thing to keep in mind however is that with the addition of an Intermediate division, the number to sign ups doesn't only have to go up by 10 teams but presumably 10+ the number of teams that move into intermediate.

I think the community if it chooses to can absolutely accomplish this goal, the question is, are we going to?  I've talked to several people from different stages in their competitive careers and the reactions have varied from a battle cry to support and in extreme cases "save the game" through this league to "*%$@ that, they called us whiners, that's classy customer support right there." ESEA has been what many consider to be the games top league for the past several seasons, and for the past two in particular ESEA has brought TF2 to public venues at their Lan Championships.  I for one hope that ESEA sticks by the game and that the community can rise up to the challenge but either way, I think the game's only going to grow - with or without ESEA.

From the CEVO site:

The Professional Division (CEVO-P) is our most prestigious division and consists of only the top twelve teams in North America. Teams are selected for this division based on their performance in CEVO last season (top 4 from Pro and top 2 from Main) and their performance in other leagues.

We were originally going to use a Professional Placement Tournament to fill the division but we have decided to directly invite qualified teams. If I have not talked to your team already and you feel that you deserve to play in CEVO-P this season, read on...

Applications:

Teams that have not qualified or been invited yet, and are interested in competing in the Professional division can apply via email before Thursday, August 5th @ 11 PM CST. To apply, teams must be signed up in the Amateur division with at least 6 "@ready" members on their roster.

Please send the following to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to apply.

1. Team Name
2. Link to CEVO team page. (Can be found on the standings)
3. Team Experience / Accomplishments (CEVO, other leagues/tournaments, other games, etc..)
4. Why you feel that your team deserves to be invited into the tournament.

I thought we would have to go this route when I originally announced the Placement Tournament and I think it's better given the current structure of the upper tier.