If you were excited to watch some of the world's best Dota 2 teams fight it out in Los Angeles, there's some bad news. The ESL One Los Angeles 2020 has been cancelled due to, you guessed it, the coronavirus. The tournament was scheduled to start this Sunday, March 15.
Even during the height of the coronavirus issue, there was still hope that the Major would push through. After all, there had been no news or update to that fact. Previously, the only news to have come out regarding ESL One LA was the possibility of Team Aster not being able to attend due to Visa issues.
However, since the initial outbreak the World Health Organization recently declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic. This has resulted in different actions from different countries. In the US, many states have created bans on events of a certain size.
Various reports, like the one by The Esports Observer, revealed that the possibility of the Major being postponed was first alluded to by esports journalist Rod “Slasher” Breslau through a tweet. In that same report, Invictus Gaming was said to have confirmed what Breslau tweeted.
Going over Breslau's tweets, he cited sources that said initially both ESL and Valve were looking into the possibility of continuing the tournament, but with no fans or live audience. However, just a few hours later it appears that the event was "fully cancelled", which according to Breslau is mainly due to the travel ban ordered by President Donald Trump.
ESL and Valve's move from not allowing fans to a full on cancellation of the Major is a direct result of Trump's travel suspension from Europe to the US as players and casters were worried about how they would get home, sources said
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) March 12, 2020
While players and casters can enter the US before the ban takes effect Friday, the main concern was how to get home. The ban would have affected European teams OG, Team Secret, and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Technically, the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 has indeed been cancelled. However the Major itself has been postponed meaning it’s still going to happen, but is going to be be at a later date and location. This was confirmed by ESL One through a post on their website where they revealed that they "are working closely with Valve to determine a new time and location for the Major." This means the event will no longer be called ESL One Los Angeles 2020, but ESL One "somewhere else" 2020.
In addition, ESL One also said that they are presently "working with the venue and ticketing provider to refund tickets as soon as possible" and for those who bought a ticket, they "should be receiving email communication in the coming days."
ESL One did not give any dates as to when the tournament could take place as of right now.
What about you? Where do you think they should hold the Major?
