COVID-19 outbreak has taken quite a lot from everyone and yet it is not showing any signs of slowing down, many countries around the world are under lockdown as a prevention measure for the same.
ESL One Los Angeles, Initially to be commencing March 15 onwards but was postponed in perpetuity after the US government imposed a travel ban on Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without being able to foresee when all of this is coming under control to a conclusion, ESL and Valve have decided to turn ESL One Los Angeles 2020 and ESL Birmingham 2020 into online tournaments.
“After carefully reviewing all possibilities for ESL One Los Angeles and Birmingham 2020 powered by Intel with VALVE, we have come to the conclusion that both tournaments will not proceed as initially planned this year and will both be transformed into online tournaments,” ESL added on its official website. “The safety and well-being of players, fans, and staff is our utmost priority.”
Also, ESL One Los Angeles to follow a revised format. Five online regional leagues, and a total of 34 participating teams. Teams who qualified for ESL One Los Angeles will most likely to get a direct invite to the event.
There’s no word if the ESL One Los Angeles event has retained its charm of calling it a “Major” and the event will kick off on March 28th with $375,000 on the line.
ESL One Birmingham will boast the same prize pool as its sister event that is of $375,000 and to follow the same revamped format. As said, the event will run fully-online in May through June.
Tickets of ESL One Los Angeles to receive a full refund and also tickets purchased on-site event in Birmingham to get the same. Although, ESL has insisted further to hold onto their ESL One Birmingham tickets as they will be valid for the next iteration of the Birmingham event.
Valve is yet to make an official announcement about how it plans to overcome the already disrupted Dota Pro Circuit 2019-20 as we are nearing The International 10.
