Stockholm authorities addressed the government to keep the Major in the country

Anna König Jerlmyr, the Finance City Council of Stockholm, has sent an open letter to the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Sport of Sweden, which urged to contribute to the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. The text of the letter was published by the NIP club on Twitter.

Earlier, the head of the tournament operator PGL said about the problems with obtaining visas for cyber athletes, which could be a significant obstacle for the championship in the previously announced dates - from October 23 to November 7. According to the head of Stockholm, the authorities have one day to notify the organizers of the assistance in issuing visas.

The government is about to repeat the same mistake it did a couple of weeks ago when the world’s biggest e-sports tournament, The International, was moved from Stockholm. Now the story sadly looks to repeat itself for CS:GO Major, when the government not this time either can give reassurance which can guarantee that the tournament carries through. 

Svenska E-sportförbundet (Roughly: The Swedish E-sports organisation, will be referred to as TSE) is not a part of Riksidrottsförbundet (Roughly: The Swedish National Sports Organisation, will be referred to as TSN) and recently TSN denied TSE’s application of becoming an official elite sport. If TSE had become a part of TSN (thus E-sport would become an official sport) there would be no problems since the border police goes after the TSN’s definition of elite sport. The government was at the same time unable to act whereon The International was moved to Bucharest. The problem was that entry into the country for competitors was not guaranteed. 

The fact that the organizers choose Sweden and Stockholm is an opportunity for thousands of visitors to see their heroes from all over the world live here in our capital. A positive side effect from this are all the hotelnights, restaurant visits and our rich culture which not only enriches visitors but also the industries which have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic. 

I have the biggest respect for the pandemic. But the state of infection is now getting better and just a couple of days ago, the 12th of July, the Minister of Trade and Industry and the State Epidemiologist informed about the next step in the liquidation of restrictions. In addition the vaccination is moving forward at a fast pace with over 70 percent vaccinated in Stockholmsregionen. (Roughly: The Stockholm Region) At the moment of CS:GO Major it is estimated that the entire adult population will have gotten at least their first dose of the vaccine. With this background it is unreasonably that an E-sports tournament can’t get necessary guarantees when for example the World Championship in figure skating could be held the 22-28 of March in Avicii Arena and as late as 18-20 of June the world-touring horse jumping competition Global Champion tour was on Stockholm Stadion (Roughly: The Stockholm Stadium)

Sweden and Stockholm need more big sport and e-sport events - not less. If CS:GO Major is moved from Sweden and Stockholm it would be devastating for several reasons. Together with the move of The International it sends a signal that Sweden and the government don’t care about e-sports. The Government can give authorization about signing invitations in the question and thus exhibit the guarantees which are needed for the organizers to not move this tournament as well out of the country. The organizers must be informed by the 16th of July, so the time is scarce. 

I really hope that the government takes the chance and lets the CS:GO Major’s fans experience Stockholm and let the people of Stockholm show our beautiful city to them.

Origin: twitter.com