Yesterday, Dota 2’s Team Spirit completed its dark horse storyline by toppling PSG.LGD in the final of The International 10, netting $18,208,300 in the process. It’s the biggest prize ever awarded to a single esports team, and Team Spirit’s Russian and Ukrainian players theoretically take home $3,641,660 each. Tidy.
We say theoretically, of course, because with taxes on winnings, potentially splits for coaches and other staff members, and maybe even a cut to the organisation depending on contracts, it’s not like every dime of that prize money will end up neatly in the players’ pockets. However, such a sensational storyline, resulting in a sensational amount of cash, requires a sensational bit of coverage to go with it.
So, we thought we’d take a look at just what Team Spirit’s players could theoretically buy with their hard earned $18.2 million. While they will likely do smart and sensible things like invest in their futures (yawn), here we’ll put into perspective just how much dough Team Spirit walked away with after a magical night in Bucharest by suggesting some less-sensible ways to blow that prize money.
4,561,403 months of Dota Plus
The Team Spirit boys will never have to stress about the cost of their Dota Plus monthly subscriptions for another 380,000 years, according to our totally reliable maths.
If they decided to be more generous, Team Spirit’s players could even afford to pay for one year’s worth of Dota Plus for 433,634 Dota 2 players. Do the right thing, lads, come on.
12,141 RTX 3090s
The PC Gaming world has been desperately trying to get their paws on these elusive and highly-desirable graphics cards, but should there be a bountiful-enough supply, Team Spirit’s players could cop more than 12,000 of them if they really wanted to. Ultimate gamer flex.
At least 40 trips to space
You’ve just conquered the world of Dota 2 – why not look down upon those you’ve defeated from the edge of space? With single-seat fares on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space flights priced at $450,000 each, Team Spirit could buy at least 40 tickets with its collective TI10 winnings.
4,480 kilos of Beluga caviar
“Screw the GFUEL and the takeouts, we’re eating like kings now!” the Team Spirit players (probably) cried once the confetti had settled on their TI10 victory. When it comes to burning through $18.2 million, there are few culinary methods more efficient than buying a shit load of premium caviar. The Team Spirit boys could buy just under five tons of top-notch Beluga caviar, if they so pleased.
1 Cristiano Ronaldo
OK, this one is a bit bollocks we’ll admit, but Team Spirit’s TI10 earnings would be enough to pay the initial €15 million (roughly $17.4 million) transfer fee that Manchester United forked out for football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, with a bit of change to spare.
In reality, the extra millions of dollars needed to pay the Portuguese’s salary and performance add-ons mean we will probably not be seeing Ronaldo join the world of Dota 2 any time soon. Dang it.
Well, there you have it, five totally ludicrous ways of blowing $18.2 million if you’re a very bored group of Dota 2 champions. While Team Spirit amazed everyone – including Russian president Vladimir Putin – with its remarkable TI10 triumph, we will not be truly impressed until we see the entire roster diving into a swimming pool full of graphics cards and caviar.
