Professional Esports Association suspends its 'CS:GO' league

Before the Professional Esports Association even had a chance to get its inaugural Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league off the ground, the organization has hung up its hat on CS:GO.

The majority of CS:GO players who make up the seven teams of the PEA voted earlier this week to compete in ESL Pro League Season 5 rather than the first season of PEA's similar league. That vote prompted the PEA to suspend its plans to operate the league, the PEA announced in an email statement Friday.

The PEA was formed by commissioner Jason Katz and the owners of seven North American Counter-Strike teams -- Team Liquid, Cloud9, Team SoloMid, Immortals, NRG Esports, CompLexity Gaming and Counter Logic Gaming. The goal was to have an owner-operated league structured similarly to traditional sports leagues that promised better pay, benefits and communication with players.

When players learned that they would have to choose between competing in the brand new PEA league or the well-established ESL Pro League, 25 of them signed an open letter that laid out their frustrations with PEA's lack of communication and not being able to compete in both leagues.

Following the players' vote to compete in ESL, the PEA learned that the already-crowded professional CS:GO scene would not be compatible with a third league.

"Since the time of the original announcement of the PEA CS:GO league, it has become clear to the PEA organizations that there isn’t sufficient financial support in the ecosystem, either from broadcast/streaming partners, sponsors or others, to profitably operate a third prominent online league, due to the oversaturation of the marketplace and the recent upward spiral in operating costs," the PEA said in its statement.

The PEA originally promised better than ESL payouts for players, but ESL and the World Esports Association (essentially the European version of the PEA) have since enticed players and teams with increased pay (as long as the PEA teams commit to compete in ESL Pro League).

"[ESL and WESA] raised their prize pool from $750,000 to $1,000,000 per season and recently offered to pay 10 percent of [ESL Pro League] gross revenue to non-WESA teams, half of which was promised to the seven PEA organizations and players," the PEA said in its statement. "They say that this new revenue-sharing will be available only if the PEA organizations agree not to run a PEA CS:GO competition for two years and also commit to play in [ESL Pro League] for two years."

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The PEA has previously mentioned the idea of starting leagues within other esports, although nothing has been solidified at this time.