MLG now CGS (Championship Gaming Series) which will kick off later this year, is comprised of six teams: the San Francisco OPTX, the Los Angeles Complexity, the
Chicago Chimera, the Dallas Venom, the Carolina Core, and 3DNY from New York.
Each team has a general manager and 10 players: five will play Counter-Strike: Source; two–one male and one female–will play Dead or Alive 4; two on Project
Gotham Racing 3; and one on FIFA ’07. The league is backed by satellite television company DirecTV, as well as the U.K.’s BSkyB and Asia’s Star networks. The three partners are investing “tens of millions of dollars” over four years in the league.
CGS represents probably the first time that video game players will be paid regular salaries to do what they do. The starting salary for a CGS player will be $30,000. That figure plus bonuses could bring the top players as much as $100,000 or more per year in income.
A crucial element in the league’s success will be that its gaming events will be broadcast live. Up to 10 hours of gaming will be streamed live on the Internet, and 13 hours will be available in the U.S. on DirecTV.