Odds Say The International 2019 Prize Pool Reaches $30 Million, Admiral Bulldog Won’t Attend

• The International gets underway August 15
• How high will the prize pool get?
• Will a special guest be in attendance in Shanghai?

The International is one of, if not the most prestigious event in all of Esports and has the biggest prize pool by far of any event. Over the years the amount of money on the line has increased to staggering amounts due to the Compendium that was implemented by Valve in 2013. This allowed crowd funding money to come in and be added to the prize pool, and since its inception the amount gets crazier every year.

TI9 is set to take place from August 15-25 in Shanghai, and the crowd funding runs until the final is set to take place, meaning there is still almost two months to raise more funds. Having already surpassed last years record breaking prize pool the question is: how high will the prize pool get for TI9?

Will The International Prize Pool Surpass $30 Million?

*All odds taken 07/06/19

That’s a Lot of Cash

The TI8 prize pool was truly astonishing, at over $25 million being raised, with the top team walking away with over $11 million. What’s even more insane is that the prize pool for TI9 has already broken that number, and is a full 25% ahead of where they were at this point last year.

If this trend continues and it’s able to stay a full 25% higher than last year, it will break $30 million, which is pretty nuts. I strongly believe that it will continue on the path it is on, and may even see a bigger jump in crowd funding dollars when The International comes closer to wrapping up. Expect 2019 to hold the first ever Esports tournament that breaks $30 million in total prize money.

Pick: Yes (-250)

The International Total Prize Pool Odds

How High Will it Get?

It is very likely that the prize pool is going to clear the $30 million mark, but just how high will it get come time for the tournaments end? So far it’s on a 25% increase from the TI8 prize pool so if it continues on that trend the total prize pool for The International in 2019 would fall just short of the $32 million mark.

I suspect that it will just narrowly break that mark though and end up in the $32.5-$33 million dollar range when all is said and done. So for this prop I would say the most likely to hit would be 31,500,000-32,999,999 at +300. Even if it sees no increase from the 25% that it currently holds over last years prize pool, it still falls in the same bracket being offered in this prop.

Pick: 31,500,000-32,999,999 (+300)

Will Admiral Bulldog Attend The International?

Will the Admiral Attend TI9?

This is a prop that is kind of unclear, as it doesn’t say whether it will be as a player or a caster/analyst, it just says will he be in attendance. It seems like he is trying to round up a squad to go through the EU Qualifier to get to play at TI9, at least according to his Twitter.

Looking for any +300 ranked immortal players for TI EU qualifier, Hit me up!! 😀

— Henrik Ahnberg (@AdmiralBulldog) June 30, 2019

He hasn’t played competitively since 2016 but has instead opted to head into the world of broadcasting Dota2. Since the last International he has worked as an analyst at five premier and major events, though last year he was left off the broadcast team for TI8.

I think it is unlikely Admiral Bulldog finds a team that can qualify for TI9, and since he was left off of the broadcast team at last year International I think that will be the case again this year. I wouldn’t bank on Admiral Bulldog being in attendance at The International unless he is going to go just to watch as a casual spectator.

Pick: No (-175)