LCS Suspends Fan Meetings, Post-Game High-Fives, and Fan Handshakes Due to Coronavirus

by Isaac Chandler in League of Legends | Mar, 6th 2020

The spread of COVID-19 (aka the rapidly spreading coronavirus) has had a major impact on esports over the past month, with multiple events around the world either completely canceling or playing without a live studio audience. While the LCS has so far avoided having to cancel any of its matches or its final in Frisco yet, developer and league operator Riot Games has begun taking action to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the LCS community.

Coronavirus Concerns

In an announcement on the official LCS Twitter page, LCS Commissioner Chris Greeley revealed that, fan engagements with the pros would be suspended for the safety of the players, staff, and other fans, with the reasoning that, “Out of an abundance of caution due to the coronavirus outbreak, we’ll be suspending fan meets, victory high fives, and post-game handshakes at LCS games until further notice.” Fans wishing to refund their LCS tickets due to fears of catching coronavirus or the lack of fan-pro engagement over the coming weeks were also encouraged to email LCS-TICKETS@RiotGames.com to get their tickets reimbursed.

Greeley also revealed that the company was in close contact with the Ford Center and the local Frisco government to make sure the LCS Spring Split Finals scheduled to take place there towards the end of April was good to go, noting that they were “carefully monitoring the situation.”

With the LEC already moving its finals from Budapest to the LEC studio in Berlin, the LCK postponing all matches until further notice, and the LPL moving to online matches for the rest of the Split, coronavirus is having a rather serious impact on the competitive League of Legends circuit, not to mention the rest of esports as a whole. While Riot has yet to make a final decision on whether or not the LCS Spring Finals will go ahead in Frisco or not, we’ll be sure to keep you updated as the situation develops.

The full statement can be read below:

“The dynamic and rapidly-evolving situation around coronavirus is concerning to us, like the rest of the industry. The health and safety of our pro players, fans, and employees remain our top priority.For the 2020 Spring Finals this April, we’re carefully monitoring the situation in Frisco, TX and we’re in close contact with the venue and local governments to ensure we’re compliant with on-the-ground changes.

Out of an abundance of caution due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we’ll be suspending fan meets, victory high fives, and post-game handshakes at LCS games until further notice. As these precautions may disappoint some of our fans, we’ll be offering refunds We’re working on keeping our partners, teams, and the community updated in a timely way. We appreciate your support and patience during this time as we continue to assess the situation around the Coronavirus outbreak.”