In-Person Attendance Won’t Be An Option for the 2021 LCS Summer Split
I think this is the right call.
— Ovilee May (@OvileeMay) April 26, 2021
It's still far to risky to allow hundreds of fans in a week and potentially expose the entirety of the LCS ecosystem. 1 douche who thinks they're above mask rules could bring the whole community down.
Unfortunately, fans will not be able to attend the 2021 LCS Summer Split in-person, as per Travis Gafford. Those looking to cheer on their favorite teams and players in the LCS Studio will therefore have to wait a bit longer — a depressing, albeit necessary decision on Riot’s part. The COVID-19 pandemic is still a very real threat, and even though the light at the end of the tunnel is slowly (but surely) starting to emerge, we still need to exercise caution in every which way so as not to dampen this positive momentum (for which everyone has been fighting so hard to attain) and potentially put people (including ourselves) at risk.
Esports without a live audience is definitely a somewhat strange experience, but we’ve all become accustomed to it by this point. Keeping track of everything and making sure no one’s breaking any rules and guidelines is a logistical nightmare and mistakes definitely tend to happen — it’s all a part of human nature, after all. It is therefore paramount for us to keep tight and wait for better days. Keeping track of everyone in a densely packed LCS Studio in Los Angeles simply isn’t an option, so it’s good of Riot to not even attempt such a thing.
There’s a Reason For Optimism
Fortunately, based on all available metrics, we’re starting to win the battle against this whole pandemic. It’s still too early to declare any sort of triumph, but we’re getting there inch by inch, which is the only thing that ultimately matters. We just need to hold on a little bit longer before things can return back to normal.
The LCS has already made a small but integral step towards that normalcy with Cloud9 and Team Liquid duking it out on a full-fledged stage in-person rather than any online-only environment. Just that change alone is a triumph in and of itself and also an occurrence that will become more and more frequent as time goes on; we just need to stay patient for a little bit longer until we can fully revert back to the way things once were — both as individuals and as a society.
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