The organizers of the ESL Pro League Season 11 tournament have announced that the tournament will be held online due to the spread of the coronavirus. The group stage of the tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Malta, with the playoffs – in Denver, USA. Now it has been decided that the group stage matches will be held online, and the final part of the competition will be held in a European studio without spectators.
Recently, similar decisions have been made by the heads of other tournaments: the IEM Katowice final was held without spectators, and the final part of Flashpoint, which was supposed to be held in Stockholm, has been moved to Los Angeles, and spectators will also be able to watch it only online.
According to the ESL Pro League organizers, their decision was largely influenced by the fact that Malta has adopted new quarantine regulations, implying restrictions on entry and exit, as well as on movements within the country. As a result, it became impossible to get staff and teams to the studio where the competition was scheduled to take place. In addition, ESL decided not to create a situation where over a hundred people, including coaches, team members and staff, would be in one place for weeks on end. Instead, players will be able to compete from home or from their team headquarters. Separate servers will be allocated for matches.
ESL assured fans that it expects to return to the normal order of competitions in the future. For those who bought tickets, the organizers have already sent out refund instructions.
