Next year, one of the world’s largest esports tournaments will take place in four North American locations. The League of Legends World Championship in 2022 will be held in New York, Toronto, Mexico City, and San Francisco, according to Riot Games. The news came prior of a game between the Warriors and the Raptors at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
This will be the first-ever multi-country version of Riot’s yearly tournament, as well as the first since 2016 to take place in North America. The event will begin with the play-ins in Mexico City (the Liga Latinoamerica competition arena), then move to New York (the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden) for the group stage and quarterfinals, Toronto (Scotiabank Arena) for the semifinals, and finally San Francisco for the finals (Chase Center).
Worlds 2021 was held in Reykjavík, Iceland, earlier this month, after previously being scheduled in Shenzen, China. (Due to the epidemic, the competition was relocated.) The month-long tournament drew no spectators when underdog Edward Gaming defeated reigning champions DWG KIA, however Riot appears to be planning to alter that in 2022, given its ambitions to hold matches in huge NBA venues.
“We’re thrilled to bring the full scale of our global sport back to North America, and, COVID permitting, welcome fans into the stands across three countries and four different cities,” said Naz Aletaha, global head of LoL Esports.