League Of Legends World Championship To Be Hosted By Shanghai This September

Riot Games has announced that the “League of Legends” World Championship will be held in Shanghai, China this year.

In spite of the fact that several esports tournaments, gaming conventions, and other sports events have been canceled or become exclusively online due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Verge reports that Riot Games has announced dates of September 25 to October 31 in Shanghai, China for this World Championship.

While the early stages of the tournament will have no in-person audiences, the finals are supposedly going to be held in Pudong Soccer Stadium. Riot Games says that by hosting the event at one site rather than several different sites, they’ll be able to more closely control the show environment.

Whereas the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) are employing a “bubble” scenario where all their athletes have been quarantined in and around Florida and their games are scheduled to be played in just three venues there with no fans, Major League Baseball has allowed their traditional formats of home and away play.

The result has been close to disastrous for baseball with cancellations in games that have seen outbreaks of COVID-19 in teams like the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies in spite of fans not being allowed in the venues. The danger of the entire MLB season being canceled now looms over baseball.

Riot Games says it will rely on “local guidelines” to decide whether to allow an in-person audience for the finals. If so, details about tickets and any safety measures that need to be applied will be available later this summer.

“We continue to use the guidance from various health organizations and local and national authorities to prioritize safety for our players, fans, and everyone involved with bringing Worlds 2020 to life,” Riot said in a statement.

The National Hockey League (NHL) has also begun their playoff push with fan noise being piped into empty arenas similar to what the NBA and WNBA are doing. Football stadiums in Europe have employed similar scenarios for the past few months since they restarted their respective seasons.

The Verge notes that Riot has so far not detailed what precautions it would take to protect players at the “League of Legends” World Championship 2020, or whether they’d be confined to a bubble in Shanghai.

This past February, the Chinese “League of Legends” Pro League suspended in-person play amid the coronavirus outbreak and shifted to an online format.

“Overwatch,” “PUBG,” “Dota 2,” “Counter-Strike,” and several fighting game-centric tournaments have been either postponed, moved completely online, or outright canceled since the pandemic spread worldwide.