Esports events opening up to fans after pandemic

At the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown, it was no surprise that all global sporting events were shut down. This included live football, rugby and somewhat surprisingly, live in person eSports events. However, now we’re at the back end of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are starting to go back to normal around the world. There are some people who believe restrictions were lifted globally too soon. It stands to reason that it made more sense to get the economy back on track. This brings us to today’s subject, live eSports events are being opened up to the public again. 

Fans packing out stadiums for tournaments such as League of Legends, world championships, the DotA 2 international and for me, most excitingly Rocket League will also now be getting back on LAN too. I’m excited for LAN tournaments for many reasons but mostly so we can finally settle the debate. Is team BDS the best team in Rocket League? Only time will tell. What I will say is now is a perfect time to look for a sportsbook deposit welcome bonus, since LAN is a completely different kettle of fish when it comes to competing, things are going to get spicy and there is DEFINITELY money to be made!

I’d like to talk a little bit about where we came from before I get to where we are, however. So let’s cast our minds back to december 2019. RLCS Season 8 had just come to a close, NRG beat Vitality (known as Renault Vitality back then) in a pretty intense best of 7 with two games going to overtime. Turbopolsa claimed his FOURTH world championship and also was named MVP of the tournament. This was the last time we had a LAN event for Rocket League. Little did we know what was to come in the very near future.

Starting in February 2020, RLCS season 9 kicked us off with some more intense competitive Rocket League, we all love to see it, this time however. They had a VERY short season format. League play ran from 8th February in game week one to the 21st March for game week 8, locking us into the playoffs which took place the weekend of March 28th. All of this was to qualify for world championships. Worlds was due to take place April 24-26th in Dallas Texas. Unfortunately, it was around this time that the Covid-19 global pandemic started to kick off big time. Due to this, Psyonix cancelled worlds, leaving nothing but “RLCS X” fall split qualification as the prizes.

Now, RLCS X, season 10. This season was scheduled to take us from August 2020 all the way up until June 2021. There was a lot of chatter during the season, viewers and pros alike all wondering whether a LAN would be scheduled for worlds, but given the fact the pandemic kept flaring up and dying down Psyonix thought it unwise to have people gathering for LANs and instead decided they would break the world championships into 4 regional “Championships” all held online, which was good fun and the format of the season allowed for us to have competitive Rocket League on our screens ALMOST every day for best part of a year, but we all wanted to see one thing..!

LANs! Much to the appreciation of the fans, Psyonix announced that for the 2021-22 season (season 11) we would get to experience the excitement of LANs again. 4 LANs in fact. We will be getting 1 LAN for each major per split, Fall being held in Stockholm Sweden with a $300k prize pool. The Winter & Spring LAN events haven’t had their locations announced yet, both with $300k to play for, however given the fact World Championships is currently ‘planned’ to be held in North America, there’s potential for the other 2 majors to be held in Japan/Korea and Australia/New Zealand. 

Why do you think that? Well I’m glad you asked. RLCS 2021-22 saw the introduction of MANY more regions to the RLCS. In the past we had North & South America, Europe and Oceania. Now? We have North/South America, Europe, Oceania, Middle east & Africa, Asia-Pacific North & South and last but not least, Sub-Saharan Africa. I’m so happy to see more regions taking part, seeing different play styles AND giving us MORE Rocket League to take in. I’m HOPING to be able to attend a LAN event this season but only time will tell.

ESports fans! What are your thoughts on this whole situation? Are you happy to have LANs back? Do you still think it’s too soon? I’m very excited personally, but also given the way the case numbers are rising over here in the UK, it could potentially be way too soon. There’s talk of the government over here issuing a work from home order again over christmas and closing pubs. Only time will tell! On that note, take care folks!