Ryan Goodrich
Many esports leagues must now re-evaluate their strategies with seasonal events as the Coronavirus forces people to remain at home. Three prominent leagues announced that they will move forward with their competitive seasons. However, they will instead take place via online play with revised schedules. This comes after many esports events being postponed for more than a month due to the spreading epidemic.
Overwatch League
The Overwatch League (OWL) suspended all play after the Washington Justice Homestand on March 7-8th. The organization plans to host online esports matches as of March 21. These will occur every Friday through Sunday until May 1st so as to make up for lost time due to cancellations. Teams are split up between three servers so as to reduce any possible lag.
League of Legends
The League of Legends‘ League Championship Series (LCS) in North America plans to play online matches as well. These start March 21st, and begins with the previously-scheduled Week 8 matchups suspended as of March 13th. Matches previously scheduled for Monday Night League now take place on Saturday and Sunday. Spring Split Playoffs are now scheduled for April 4-19th.
Call of Duty League
The third league to move online is the Call of Duty League. All previously-scheduled esports matches from the Home Series are now moved to an online format. However, no official dates are announced for when play resumes. The next scheduled Home Series was to take place in Dallas on March 28-29th, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus.
Play Pokemon events
Additionally, The Pokemon Company officially cancelled all sanctioned Play Pokemon events through May 14th. This includes all competitions planned for Pokemon Sword and Shield, in addition to the Pokemon Trading Card Game at every level (regional to pre-release tournaments). Additional cancellations may occur depending on how things look as we approach the May deadline.
Loading…