Team intervention saves international KeSPA Cup broadcast
Today the KeSPA Cup kicked off. The annual tournament is the first chance for fans of Korean League of Legends to see their teams' new lineups in action.
Casting controversy
The tournament has taken place since 2015 and is popular with Korean and international fans alike. Yet much to the disappointment of the latter group, it was announced on Friday that this year it would not have an English stream.
On Friday, LCK caster Max "Atlus" Anderson broke the news that organizing Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) had made a last moment decision to this effect. It had also forbidden him and his fellow casters to restream the event from their homes themselves.
Atlus broke the bad news on Friday.
Teams to the rescue
In response to the news, T1 CEO Joe Marsh announced that his organization and fellow Cup participant Gen.G would shoulder the cost of an English broadcast, if KeSPA were to relent. Gen.G COO Arnold Hur was quick to back up this offer.
T1 and Gen.G weren’t having any of it, however.
And thus, Christmas was saved, as the news reached us yesterday that the event would indeed have an English-language stream. LCK casters Atlus, Nick "LS" De Cesare and Brendan Valdes will commentate proceedings. They are supported in this by Seth "Achilios" King, making a triumphant return to League of Legends after casting the Overwatch League for the last year.
Format and schedule
The 2019 KeSPA Cup will feature all ten LCK teams and an additional ten contenders from the country's Challenger and promotional tournaments.
The event, which has 158,000,000 Won (approximately $135,670) at stake, will run from December 23rd to January 5th, 2020. The round-of-16 and quarterfinals will consist of best-of-three matches, which will be played at the Nexon Arena. The semifinals and finals take place at Ulsan Hall and are best-of-fives series.
Matches will start daily at 17:00 KST and be broadcast in English on KeSPA’s YouTube channel.
Image via KeSPA