Riot Games and the LCS have made the tough decision not to hold the LCS Championship at the Prudential Center this year due to the sudden rise of cases of COVID-19 in the United States, the league announced today. Instead, the entire tournament will take place at the LCS Arena in Los Angeles in a safer, more controlled environment.
The LCS Championship was quickly sold out by thousands of League of Legends fans looking to finally catch their favorite teams in action after only watching them from behind a screen for over a year. Over the past few months, however, the Delta variant of the coronavirus has begun to spread rapidly across the country, causing the league to reassess its plans for an in-person event.
“We scheduled the LCS Championship as a road show with fans and made the decision to move forward based on the very promising roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Spring,” the league said in a statement. “Given the current state of affairs, we cannot in good conscience conduct a massive fan event at this time.”
By keeping the entire tournament in the LCS Arena, the officials can ensure the safest environment possible for the players and staff that are attending, as well as all the people on the broadcasting team. The league also said that they do expect other events to continue through this period of time, but it “does not need to take health and safety risks in order to produce its core competitive product.”
Any ticket holders will receive full refunds. Riot will work with the Prudential Center on this process and will give out more details very soon.
