Roaring Bears, the German fan club known for its organised support at BIG’s matches, will not appear as a group at IEM Cologne 2027. The club blames ESL’s ticket pricing and what it calls the growing commercialisation of the event, and it has asked fans who still go to the LANXESS Arena to leave its merchandise at home.
The decision came on Monday evening, three and a half weeks after the club first said it was considering staying away. It is not a call for a boycott. Roaring Bears stress that every fan can decide for themselves whether to travel to Cologne, and that some of their own members may still make the trip. What disappears is the organised, recognisable block in the stands. The statement, posted in German and English:
After careful consideration, we the Roaring Bears have made a decision: we will not be attending as the Roaring Bears in a recognizable fashion. We want to make it clear that we will not tell anyone whether they should attend IEM or travel to Cologne, nor will we judge anyone for doing so. That is everyone’s own decision, and we respect that. However, under the current circumstances, we do not feel comfortable attending the event as usual.
The club is considering an alternative programme, but nothing has been decided yet. Its one request goes to everyone who does attend:
If you attend the event at the LANXESS Arena, please refrain from wearing Roaring Bears merchandise. We do not want our name and colors to be represented at an event whose current ticket pricing and increasing commercialization we strongly criticize. We believe that Counter-Strike should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford increasingly expensive tickets.
From a banner in the arena to a decision
The protest started inside the building. Roaring Bears say they protested ESL’s price policies at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 in June, and the photo behind both of the club’s statements shows two banners in the stands written in CS2 language: “ESL wants full buy” and “Fans forced to eco”.
On 2 October, a day after ESL put the 2027 tickets up for sale, the club went further. It called the €60 signing sessions at the Major, sold before anyone knew which team they were for, “frankly greedy” and said the new prices showed that “nothing has changed”. The 2027 tickets, it wrote, “are marginally cheaper than for this year, but in return, it will not be a major.” The club said it would discuss with its members whether to stay away as a group. Monday’s statement is the answer.
What a seat in Cologne costs
IEM Cologne 2027 runs from 4 to 15 August, with the final four days in the LANXESS Arena from 12 to 15 August. ESL has expanded the arena phase to four days with eight playoff teams and will build a 360-degree stage in the middle of the arena for the first time. The event is the championship of ESL’s EPT circuit, with 24 teams and a $1,250,000 prize pool.
| Ticket | Wave 1 | Wave 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-day Upper | €39 to €74 | €44 to €79 |
| 1-day Lower | €79 to €114 | €84 to €119 |
| 4-day Weekend Upper | €169 | €189 |
| 4-day Weekend Lower | €279 | €299 |
| 4-day Lower Reserved | €379 | €399 |
| 4-day Plus | €529 | €549 |
| 4-day Premium | €729 | €749 |
| 4-day The Sanctuary | €1,599 | €1,699 |
On top of that comes the IEM+ Upgrade at €119, a merchandise bundle that is included in the Plus, Premium and Sanctuary tickets. Wave 2 has no date yet.
For comparison, four-day tickets for the 2026 Major started at €199 in the first wave, Dust2.us reported at the time. The cheapest four-day ticket for 2027 is €30 less, which is the “marginally cheaper” Roaring Bears refer to. Cologne is still far from the most expensive event on the calendar: a four-day pass for the PGL Major Singapore in December costs around $765.
Demand is not the problem
The protest does not show up in the sales so far. ESL’s ticket page lists the four-day Upper ticket as sold out, along with Saturday and Sunday day tickets in both the Upper and Lower tiers, while the Lower Reserved category has “only a few left”. ESL markets the event with “more tickets available than ever before” thanks to the new stage layout.
That is the club’s point, in a sense. Roaring Bears do not argue that Cologne will be empty, but that the people who fill it will increasingly be those who can pay. The loss for ESL is harder to put in numbers: an organised fan block that has been part of the atmosphere the organiser itself sells as “the Cathedral of Counter-Strike”.
ESL has not responded publicly to the statement. The club, founded in 2019, is best known for supporting BIG, which means that if BIG make it to Cologne next August, they will do it without their loudest supporters in the stands.
