Sweden against Denmark – A battle the public expected in the first Intel Friday Night Game of the ESL EPS Scandinavia season one. But it’s not mTw, SK Gaming or fnatic battling out the first place this Friday in Copenhagen, but Team Giants and AndThenSome.dk - two teams that are trying to challenge the three best sides in their region, but still are not on the same level. Both organizations still got a long way to go and need their teams to bring them to the international limelight.

The big names draw big crowds

The offline event of the first EPS Scandinavia season is the one and only chance to reach thousands of people at home and probably a couple of hundreds at the venue and show them that the organizations playing are better than expected. Team Giants and ATS.dk have the possibility to reach another level of recognition on Friday and get people cheering for them because they are showing themselves in Copenhagen and trying to qualify for the EPS Finals. Another event to show off.

In Germany the EPS and those Friday Night offline events got quite a past. At the beginning, the ESL tried to get every team to those events to show themselves on the big stage, win supporters and live the life of a rock star. But those events without the top dogs like mousesports, Team Alternate and the two or three teams battling for the top four spots were disappointments. Less spectators, few cheering and not the same atmosphere in the venue were the result of the first couple of seasons.

In the following seasons, the ESL tried to fill the IFNGs with the best match-ups out there. Teams like mousesports had four to five events every season and people wanted to see them play. Only in Hamburg or Munich other teams were able to fill the halls: mTw and TBH-eSports had built  their own fanbase in the region and taken spectators to their events. Those teams were able to benefit from those supporters and build up their home events.

But in general without the direct look to the offline events those other teams in the ESL Pro Series became more and more professional and the number of teams that stayed in the EPS grew bigger and bigger every season. Now you got a core of eight to ten teams that field a team in the highest German eSports league every season.

Will we see another IFNG Stockholm with just a few spectators?

Now in Denmark it will be interesting to see whether Team Giants or ATS.dk are already seen as a top team and can get the spectators to the venue. If it doesn’t work with those teams we can be sure that in the next seasons you will only see names like SK, fnatic, mTw and maybe GamePlay at those events. These teams got impressive supporters that want to see them and lift such an event to another level.

But in Scandinavia it will be important to get more than these four teams on a professional level, so that they can pay fair salaries and will be supported by bigger sponsors. This can only happen if the teams get enough limelight to present themselves. Without any offline events? Almost impossible.

This Intel Friday Night Game will have the function of a simple test. Does the EPS Scandinavia already work without the big names or will it be hard work to build up a competition that attracts more than just the people cheering for those big names. Copenhagen will be a touchstone for the whole league concept of building up a strong Scandinavian scene with more than three known names.