ESL has announced a major streaming partnership with Kick, bringing Counter-Strike 2, and Dota 2 tournaments to the rapidly growing platform. The deal positions Kick as a key broadcast partner for ESL Pro Tour events and the exclusive home for ESL Challenger League. Starting Apr. 13, fans can catch live coverage on ESL’s Kick channel alongside the existing YouTube and Twitch streams.
ESL Pro Tour events on Kick from IEM Rio 2026
According to the announcement, Kick will host ESL’s flagship circuit, the ESL Pro Tour, on the platform kicking off with the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2026. The $1 million CS2 event features 16 top teams battling for prize money, while Vitality attempt to claim their second Grand Slam.
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Future broadcasts, including IEMs, ESL Pro Leagues and some Dota 2 events, will all stream on ESL’s Kick channel in English. Unlike StarLadder’s partnership, though, ESL is not going to stream exclusively on Kick. Instead, both YouTube and Twitch streams will remain available for most events. This is in contrast to ESL’s past exclusivity agreements with Twitch, and Facebook, which both received significant fan pushback.
ESL Challenger League exclusive to Kick
While the Pro Tour retains its existing streams, one tournament will be moving to Kick entirely. ESL Challenger League (ECL), previously Mountain Dew League, is the flagship event of the ESEA ladder, offering a grassroots path to the Pro Tour. Each season includes four ECL Cups leading to regional finals, where winners earn spots in ESL Pro League.
ECL Cups and the finals events will be moving to Kick exclusively, giving the platform a healthy dose of tier-2 VRS events. With the exclusivity partnership, the event may also see an increase in the number of matches that ESL covers on their stream, though nothing has been confirmed so far. Such a change could help ECL regain some of the prestige that it has recently lost in a scene filled with small VRS LANs.
Overall, the partnership signals the continued growth of Kick, while also bringing in an additional revenue stream for the ESL FACEIT Group, which was hit by a round of layoffs last year. The partnership could also open the door to a more lucrative exclusivity contract in the future, depending on how the initial rollout is received in the community.
