As soon as ESL was contemplating on how to pull off a major tournament without a live audience, they dropped a bomb on thousands as they announced that the tournament that was supposed to be the first for Los Angeles will be delayed to another date with a high probability that the major will be entirely canceled.
The Major was scheduled for March 20-22 and will disrupt a lot of audience’s plans but the evolving COVID-19 scenario calls for a serious action as USA puts a travel ban from European countries. Teams, Casters and Talents have already been informed of the cancellation.
Update: Valve and ESL have confirmed to teams and casters that the Dota 2 Los Angeles Major will be fully cancelled, sources tell me https://t.co/BIKVkOEdE8
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 12, 2020
Unlike, ESL CS:GO season 11, which was hosted completely online from the ESL studio in Europe instead of a live event, Dota Major got completely canceled. This means that the playoffs and group stages that was scheduled from March 15 to March 22 will no longer happen.
Teams like Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas would have been affected in their travel orders if the live event had continued, even Team Aster, the team that was struggling with visa issues would not have been able to attend the major.
This begs a question about gaming tournaments that are scheduled for the future, as many countries are implementing a strict travel ban. It makes sense to upscale the execution of online-only tournaments as the Coronavirus situation is evolving by the minute.
ESL is also working with the venue and teams to refund the money of the people who purchased the tickets.
“We’re currently working with the venue and ticketing provider to refund tickets as soon as possible,” ESL said. “If you purchased a ticket, you should be receiving email communication in the coming days. We are deeply saddened that we won’t be able to bring you the event you deserved.”
