Riot Games made the difficult decision today to cancel its plans to hold the 2020 LEC Summer Finals in Sweden. At the same time, however, production of the 2020 LEC Summer Split regular season is being moved back to the Berlin studio starting in week one.
At the studio, the show will be hosted by a skeleton production crew to adhere to local regulations and safety precautions. All of the League of Legends teams will continue to play their matches remotely, though, for the safety of the players and staff.
With enough time, Riot said it will start to slowly increase the amount of staff and crew working in the studio as the Summer Split progresses. The ultimate goal is to have teams return and press activities resume. Riot still doesn’t have a timeline for when live audiences will return to the LEC, however.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced multiple esports tournament organizers to cancel or drastically adjust plans for their events for the foreseeable future. Last split, almost all playoff live events were canceled in the League competitive circuit and every region moved to an online format halfway through its season.
As for the 2020 Summer Finals, Riot is still assessing possible options for a location change. There’s a good possibility that this season’s finals will be held in the studio in Berlin, which is still better than having to celebrate a championship at home or at a team’s headquarters.
The 2020 LEC Summer Split will begin on June 12.
