Update 5PM PST March 13 – Chris Greeley, LCS Commissioner officially announced that they were suspending the spring LCS games “for the immediate future” after first announcing the rest of the spring season had been postponed earlier in the day.
The decision to suspend play came after play was canceled minutes before the broadcast was set to begin on Friday, and revealed that a member of staff had come in contact with someone infected.
An update on the 2020 LCS & Academy Spring Split and Finals from Chris Greeley, LCS Commissioner pic.twitter.com/cfbwb6Vrpe
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 13, 2020
The article from March 12 continues as originally written.
Two of League of Legends’ most popular competitions, the European LEC and North American LCS, are set to be played without an audience due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak.
The esports world continues to see LAN events hindered due to the Coronavirus, with just about every event being canceled, delayed, or somehow adjusted.
League of Legends is no stranger to this as the Chinese and Korean seasons have seen delays due to the virus and now both the LEC and LCS will be played without an audience and press.
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Riot Games confirmed the news on March 12, when two announcements highlighted the plans going forwards for the leagues.
The LCS season is set to continue from the LA studio without an audience and the Spring Finals are currently uncertain. Riot have confirmed that they will confirm a decision on March 20, with the two options being either the finals taking place in Texas, or in the LCS Arena in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the news isn’t as good for European fans, as the LEC will be played behind closed doors for the remainder of the Spring Season, including the finals, which were recently moved to Berlin. Additionally, Origen will play their week 8 matches against Vitality and Origen online, as they are not able to travel to Germany.
An update from Chris Greeley, LCS Commissioner pic.twitter.com/ob7GhlROFU
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 12, 2020
Finally, Riot Games have stated that further changes could happen depending on the situation of the virus, which could mean a postponing of the competitive seasons altogether.
For now, all fans can do is wait and see what happens, although with Origen playing their series online, it’s possible that we may be in for an unconventional online Spring Split.
