French esports organisation Team Vitality has earned over $700,000 (~£525,117) through ESL‘s and BLAST‘s revenue-sharing initiatives.
The programmes operated by the tournament organisers offered teams that regularly compete in their Counter-Strike 2 tournaments a chance to earn additional revenue in addition to prize money.
Both initiatives from ESL and BLAST reward teams for frequent appearances at their respective tournaments. ESL considers average concurrent viewership to determine the share for teams competing in ESL Pro Tour events. BLAST awards ‘Tokens’ for teams attending at least four of its events, along with event placement.
ESL Annual Club Incentive 2025 Explained
Launched in late 2024, the ESL Annual Club Incentive rewards organisations competing across ESL Pro Tour events throughout the year, in addition to viewership contributions and promotional activities. A total of 16 teams this year received a share of $2.95m (~£2.2m) based on the size of the organisation’s contribution.
The size of the contribution is determined by the number of viewership points earned across ESL Pro Tour tournaments and the number of tournaments a team competed in.
Saudi Arabian esports organisation Team Falcons topped this year’s Annual Club Incentive, attending seven events, earning 74.5 viewership points and totalling 521.5 points. As a result, the organisation secured $407,422 (~£305,521), the largest share (13.8%) of the $2.95m on offer.
Team Vitality claimed fifth place in the standings with 336 viewership points earned across the seven events it attended. By ending the ESL Pro Tour in fifth, the organisation took home $262,500 (~£196,903).
Below is the full list of the top 16 teams that earned a share from this year’s Annual Club Incentive:
- 1st: Team Falcons – $407,422
- 2nd: The MongolZ – $295,313
- 3rd: FURIA – $281,250
- 4th: NAVI – $278,906
- 5th: Team Vitality – $262,500
- 6th: MOUZ – $240,625
- 7th: G2 Esports – $215,625
- 8th: Team Spirit – $205,078
- 9th: FaZe Clan – $203,906
- 10th: Team Liquid – $150,391
- 11th: 3DMAX – $109,375
- 12th: HEROIC – $103,125
- 13th: paiN Gaming – $62,500
- 14th: Astralis – $59,375
- 15th: Virtus.pro – $40,625
- 16th: Aurora Gaming – $33,984
Following the conclusion of IEM Chengdu 2025, ESL says the Annual Club Incentive will be paid to the top 16 organisations in the first quarter of 2026. For 2026, the standings are reset, with the initiative resuming at IEM Kraków 2026, taking place from January 28th to February 8th.
BLAST Frequent Flyers Programme Explained
The BLAST Frequent Flyers Programme uses a token system to determine which teams are eligible to earn a share of a $2m (~£1.5m) annual pot.
Tokens are distributed to teams competing in multiple BLAST events across the year, in addition to winning or reaching the latter stages of a tournament.
Across 2025, Team Vitality earned 12 Frequent Flyer tokens, securing $461,538 (~£346,441) in revenue. Combined with revenue earned from ESL’s Annual Club Incentive, the organisation earned $724,038 (~£523,519) across the two initiatives.
Team Spirit ended this year’s programme in second place with 11 tokens to its name. As a result, the organisation took home $423,077 (~£317,561).
Notably, Team Falcons and The MongolZ didn’t earn a share of the revenue due to not meeting the Frequent Flyer Programme criteria.
The 11 teams earning a share of the BLAST pot are as follows:
- Team Vitality – 12 Tokens – $461,538
- Team Spirit – 11 Tokens – $423,077
- G2 Esports – 6 Tokens – $230,769
- MOUZ – 5 Tokens – $192,308
- FURIA – 5 Tokens – $192,308
- NAVI – 3 Tokens – $115,385
- FaZe Clan – 3 Tokens – $115,385
- Team Liquid – 2 Tokens – $76,923
- paiN Gaming – 2 Tokens – $76,923
- Virtus.pro – 2 Tokens – $76,923
- FlyQuest – 1 Token – $38,462
