LEC to bring back live audience for Spring Split Finals

The LEC is bringing back the live audience for one series, as the competition moves closer to the Spring Split finals.

Riot Games posted a press release explaining that they’re confident they can safely organize an event featuring a live audience, although the number of attendees will remain limited. “While we are closely monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are finally confident that we can ensure a safe environment for our fans to celebrate the Spring 2022 Finals in a one-off event. In order to ensure the highest safety, we are limiting the number of attendees.”

Fans were quick to point out they were disappointed only the grand final would feature a live audience and they didn’t do it for the playoffs. According to Riot, this is due to safety concerns. “Safety is still our number one priority, so we are taking small, incremental steps to ensure that the reintegration of our much missed audience happens as smoothly as possible. Bringing fans back to the studio in a controlled manner has required a lot of planning and the 2022 LEC Spring Season Finals is the first opportunity we have to allow us to do this safely.”

The first weekend of playoff action is currently already over. Rogue beat out Misfits Gaming while Fnatic beat G2 Esports, both with 3-1. In the losers’ bracket Vitality eliminated Excel after a 3-2 Thriller. Up next G2 will be taking on Vitality, with the winner taking on Misfits, while Rogue and Fnatic duke it out in the semifinals.