It’s nonetheless too early for Riot Video games to disclose the place the 2025 LEC Season Finals will happen, but it surely’s by no means too early to hype it up. Whereas followers eagerly await the official announcement, an trace from official sources may gas hopes for some—whereas extinguishing the desires of others.
Previously two years, the LEC Season Finals served because the grand conclusion to the 12 months, however with the 2025 format adjustments Riot is reverting to an easier roadshow occasion, bringing the joy of dwell competitors to followers with out a further mini-tournament hooked up to it. Nonetheless, the query of which metropolis will host the extremely anticipated season-finale of the area stays. However in an unique sneak peek for Dot Esports, LEC commissioner Maximilian Schmidt dropped a touch that may absolutely break some hearts. “For the roadshow of the 2025 LEC we’ll be returning to a spot we haven’t hosted a roadshow in fairly a while,” he mentioned. Whereas he averted revealing the precise metropolis previous to the official announcement, Schmidt’s trace narrows down the chance to lower than 15 cities.
Then again, for these hoping for a very new metropolis—reminiscent of Prague, Vienna, and even Rome—the assertion may be disappointing. Whereas the LEC has followers throughout each nation in Europe, not all have had the prospect to host an occasion. It simply may come all the way down to a call reflecting the scale of native esports communities. France and Spain have persistently drawn huge, passionate crowds, whereas smaller areas like Italy or Austria might not but have the numbers wanted to justify a large-scale regional occasion.
previous places, the LEC and beforehand the EU LCS have a protracted historical past of touring throughout EMEA, from Cologne to Madrid, transferring to Stockholm, Rotterdam, Kraków, Hamburg, and Paris earlier than the LEC even had it’s present title. The LEC period expanded the record additional, bringing finals to Copenhagen, Athens, Malmö, Montpellier, and extra not too long ago Munich. Every of those cities performed a key function in shaping the legacy of European League of Legends, and with Schmidt’s trace suggesting {that a} acquainted location will quickly reclaim the highlight, the correct guess may be straightforward to make figuring out how Riot chooses their internet hosting cities.
The town should have robust transportation infrastructure, together with a well-connected worldwide airport and environment friendly public transit to make sure easy journey for everybody. A contemporary enviornment with a minimal capability of round 5K seats minimal is important and ideally there will probably be a close-by spacious venue to host the LEC XPO. Lodging near the venue is one other main consideration, however straightforward to go contemplating Riot’s partnership with Marriott Bonvoy. Cities with a number of motels from that chain, ideally situated close to the sector, are significantly interesting as they’ll present handy lodging for gamers, employees, and touring followers whereas leveraging the partnership.
With these standards in thoughts, cities with a robust esports presence, passionate native fanbases, and the flexibility to accommodate 1000’s of attendees seamlessly are the almost certainly candidates. However that standards appears to suit virtually each metropolis Riot has ever held a regional occasion in.
Contemplating the standards and the probability that Riot received’t return to a metropolis the place they’ve held an occasion not too long ago, right here’s our rating of potential places for the 2025 LEC Roadshow, from most to least doubtless:
Rotterdam, Netherlands Copenhagen, Denmark Athens, Greece Stockholm, Sweden Paris, France Madrid, Spain Kraków, Poland Hamburg, Germany Cologne, germany Malmö, Sweden Montpellier, France Munich, Germany
With Riot anticipated to formally reveal the 2025 location later within the 12 months, the hypothesis has solely simply begun. Some followers could also be thrilled by the thought of revisiting a legendary venue, whereas others must put their hopes of a brand-new metropolis on maintain.
