ESL's Intel Extreme Masters e-sports tournament comes to San Jose stadium this December

People who fill stadiums, a list: 1) ageing rock stars, 2) sports teams, and, as of this year, 3) wizards. We've already had Dota 2's International filling up Seattle's KeyArena. Now, ESL's Intel Extreme Masters tournament will use San Jose's SAP Center as the venue to find the world's best League of Legends and Starcraft 2 players.

"We are the first independent esports content creators to run an event of this scale inside a US sports stadium," explains ESL managing director Michal Blicharz in a press release. "It's a chance for gaming fans to prove that their hobby belongs in the spotlight."

Home to the San Jose Sharks—an NHL team, rather than actual sharks—the stadium has a capacity of between 17,000 and 19,000 people, depending on the event. The tournament will be held on 6-7 December, and will also be streamed on Twitch.

For more details, head over to the ESL Extreme Masters site .

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.