Counter-Strike 2 players and esports fans heading into season two in 2026 are seeing a major shift in how professional teams handle partnerships. Valve's updated Tournament Operation Requirements (TOR), first introduced in December 2025, are now officially taking effect at Tier 1 events like BLAST Bounty Season 2 and the ESL Pro Tour.
1. Review Section 2.4.e of the Limited Game Tournament License
To understand why logos are disappearing from player jerseys, tournament organizers and teams must adhere to Section 2.4.e of Valve's Limited Game Tournament License. The rule states that licensees cannot distribute or display content that violates Valve IP or the Steam Subscriber Agreement on player jerseys or during broadcasts. This explicitly covers game case-opening sites, skin trading platforms, and key resellers.
2. Remove Skin Site Logos From Broadcasts and Jerseys
Tournament organizers are now required to block any material interacting with players' Valve game inventories from appearing on camera. During the BLAST Bounty Season 2 online stage, Team Vitality players wore their Major-edition jerseys without their usual skin sponsor Skin.Club logo on the collarbone. Organizers failing to enforce this risk violating the TOR rules.
3. Shift Skin Partner Promotions to Social Media
While tournament broadcasts and player jerseys are strictly regulated, Valve's rules do not explicitly ban teams from partnering with skin sites entirely. Teams like Vitality continue to feature their skin sponsors on their own social media platforms. Brands are permitted to maintain partnerships as long as their logos stay off tournament streams and player uniforms.
4. Understand the Tier 1 Enforcement Timeline
While Tier 2 tournaments adopted these restrictions earlier in the year due to shorter announcement windows, Tier 1 events are only implementing them now in July 2026. This delay is due to a TOR provision requiring Tier 1 events to publish full additional information 10 months ahead of the main event, meaning events announced after the December 2025 update are the first to fall under the revised regulations.