In an official press release, Riot Games has now confirmed the destination of the LCS 2024 Summer Finals, which will be hosted in Los Angeles at the YouTube Theater, located within the Hollywood Park entertainment complex in Inglewood, California. Per information shared with Sheep Esports, the venue is set to feature a 5,000-person seating capacity, one of the historically lowest capacities for an LCS Finals ever. In addition to this news, the LCS has now confirmed that its Semifinals and Grand Finals, both of which will take place at the venue, will be hosted on September 6th and 7th respectively.
A Controversial Location
Hosted year-long at the Riot Games Arena in L.A., the decision to hold the LCS Championship just 10 miles away from its regular season location has vexed many North American fans. This move is especially disappointing for Canadian fans, who have only had two events since the inception of League of Legends esports: one in Spring 2017 in Vancouver and the other in Summer 2016 in Toronto. Although Riot Games planned to stop in Toronto again for the Worlds 2022 Semifinals, the event was canceled due to visa-related issues following the COVID-19 pandemic.
A visual representation of the distance between the Riot Games Arena and the YouTube Theater. Site: Google Maps
As detailed on various social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter, American fans have also expressed their discontent regarding the situation notably due to the LCS'
decision to scale down its roadshows and limit itself to only one non-Riot Games Arena event per year. While fans initially hoped that this move would mean more budget invested into the league's Summer Events, recent news has now only served to disappoint the LCS' audience. To this day, several of the biggest metropolitan areas in America have yet to receive a single LoL Esports event, notably Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW), Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
One of the Smallest LCS Finals Venue Ever
Presenting around 5,000 seats for LCS fans to attend the Championship, the YouTube Theater is also set to be one of the smallest venues to ever host an LCS Split Finals and will prove to be a massive downgrade from last year's 16,755-person capacity at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ during Summer and 20,000-person capacity at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC during Spring. Not counting the years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this venue will also represent the smallest ever Summer Finals venue since 2014's PAX Prime finals, meaning that this will be the smallest summer roadshow of the last 10 years.
Interior of YouTube Theater. Credit: Jon Newcomer / Licensing: CC-BY-3.0
Difficult Scheduling
While the location and size of the venue have already caused large discussions around the event, another
thread made by Arsh Goyal, which corroborated
information leaked by David Szajnuk on Twitter, brought other important key information to light concerning the LCS Championship. As detailed by the journalist, the event location has reportedly been known to insiders for several weeks, if not months. In said thread, the journalist raised concerns pointing at potential serious logistics issues regarding the planning of the event, which could explain the decision of holding the event in such a small venue.
On top of the aforementioned news, the scheduling of the tournament shows its roadshow will take place on a Friday-Saturday basis, something which has not happened since the 2019 Spring Playoffs. Following further information shared with Sheep Esports, the decision is said to have been influenced by an NFL match taking place on Sunday in the same venue.
How to Attend?
As detailed in Riot Games' official announcement,
ticket sales for the LCS 2024 Championship will take place on
Ticketmaster on
Friday, June 28th at 10am PT/1pm ET. In addition to normal ticket sales, Riot Games will be collaborating with Mastercard to offer a 24-hour presale to Mastercard holders which will begin at the same time on
Thursday, June 27th.
More information about the LCS 2024 Championship, such as fan activities and merchandise, will be shared in the coming weeks.
Header Photo Credit: Reece Martinez/Riot Games
