LEC players will be able to return to competing in the league’s Berlin studio next week after a few weeks of remote play due to COVID, according to sources close to Dot Esports.
As a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LEC was forced to return to online production for the start of the 2022 Spring Split, with all of the players competing from their team facilities and with as few people in the studio as possible. While players started to return to the studio in the last few weeks of the 2021 Summer Split, the vast majority of the LEC has been played remotely since the beginning of the pandemic. This could change now, however, since Riot has decided to bring the players back to the studio from this upcoming week onward, sources said. Fans and press won’t be able to return to the studio yet, sources said.
Related: LEC power rankings: 2022 Spring Split week 3
It’s difficult to predict if the LEC is going to be permanently back to its offline format due to the pandemic, but many European League of Legends fans are likely happy to see the league slowly getting back to normal. Germany has 75 percent of its total population vaccinated, according to Our World in Data.
Dot Esports reported on Jan. 13 that Riot planned to come back to the studio in this current week (week four) before the 2022 LEC Spring Split started, so it seems like the current COVID situation affected the original schedule, forcing the league to wait to return in week five.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
