Riot should keep the World Championships in the US

Derptionary·10/19/2014, 7:20:10 AM·1 votes·881 views

Not because of any xenophobic reason or "Murica #1" or anything like that... But from watching the stream I'm seeing a LOT of empty seats at Sangham Stadium. Granted at the time I write this the games have yet to start, but I'm not talking about an empty seat here or there. There are entire sections in the grandstands that are empty.

It kind of worries me that if Riot holds their biggest event of the year in Korea, the place where professional gaming is supposed to be much more revered than anywhere else in the world, especially with a Korean (Samsung White) team in the Grand Finals and they can't sell out the stadium. So far in the "modern age" of League of Legends (Starting at Season 2 when League esports started becoming popular) The Championships have been held at the Galen Center (Capacity ~10,000) in Season 2 and the Staples Center (Capacity ~18,000) in Season 3 which both sold-out. It should be noted that there wasn't any NA representation in the Grand Finals of either S2 or S3.

My point is that in 2 seasons of the Finals being held in the US, both sold out the venues. Even though the Staples Center is roughly 1/2 the capacity of Sangham Stadium... NA fans aren't just fans of NA teams, they're fans of good games, wherever the teams that make it to the finals are from. If you held the Season 5 World Championship at Yankee Stadium (Capacity ~50,000) I'm sure it would sell out in a heartbeat, even though the US doesn't have as strong of a following as Korea does.

3 Comments

Hypochondria910/19/2014, 7:24:41 AM1 votes

Sangham stadium holds like 66, 000+ people.

Pinkie Pie lol10/19/2014, 7:52:48 AM1 votes

season 3 had a better championship in people count, also it was NIGHT time when they did it, it was like a PARTY going on

Rune Ocarina10/19/2014, 7:54:31 AM1 votes

I wish this years Championship was in America. I would totally fly to where in the states just to get that Championship Riven code since it looks like Riot is too stubborn to release the skin in the store for this year's Championship.