The coronavirus outbreak has hit every field of entertainment in the past few weeks and esports have not been an exception. In the latest news, Season 11 of ESL Pro League will undergo structural changes as a direct cause of the pandemic.
ESL Pro League Season 11 moves into a studio
The original plan for the new season of the league was for the regular season to be played in a studio located in Malta and for the Finals to be held in 1STBANK Arena in Denver, Colorado. Neither of these things are going to happen as the worldwide health situation is getting worse by the day.
Malta, the country that was supposed to host regular season play, has imposed heavy restrictions on traveling into the country, making it logistically impossible for staff and players to make it to the venue. Finding a new location at such short notice would have been a nightmare in any case, but the coronavirus made it practically impossible. As a result, all regular season matches will be played entirely online on dedicated servers.
As for the ESL Pro League Season 11 Finals, Denver is no longer a viable destination. ESL announced that the culmination of the season will be moved into a studio located somewhere in Europe. No audience will be allowed at the event bar a drastic improvement to the health situation, the chances of which are minimal to non-existent.
This is the second major ESL event that has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. In late February, IEM Katowice suffered a similar fate as we saw the legendary Spodek Arena empty for the duration of the tournament – a sight painful to the eye.
With how things have been developing, especially in the past few days, it’s a miracle we’re going to have a tournament at all. Many sports leagues have shut doors amid the crisis, most notably the NBA, La Liga and pretty much everything in Italy, including Serie A.
Fingers crossed it all gets better soon, but don’t be shocked if the precautions undertaken by ESL are deemed to not be good enough in a few days and the Pro League gets cancelled altogether. As of now, ESL Pro League Season 11 is supposed to begin on Monday, March 16.
