Not long after the International Wildcard All-Stars event at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena, Riot has announced the location for their next League of Legends finals event in Australia. It’ll be in Brisbane, and it’ll be for the end of 2016’s Oceania Pro League.
Via a press release issued today, Riot announced the venue for their OPL 2016 finals in Australia. It’ll be at Queensland’s Courier-Mail Piazza, with the finals scheduled for August 13.
It’ll be a one-day affair featuring just the top two teams from the second OPL split of 2016, with the winner of a best-of-five series going to the International Wildcard Qualifier later that year. You can see what the Piazza looks like below, although it’ll undoubtedly have more of a red, purple and blue tinge to it once Riot dresses it up in LoL colours.
Hopefully the weather remains the same
The Piazza is a multi-purpose venue which has a seating capacity for more than 2100, with “additional floor seating available if required” according to Visit Brisbane. The floor space alone supports 750 people standing, with slightly less if temporary seating is used.
Riot’s press release noted that the 2015 OPL finals “saw over 10,000 attendees”, so one imagines they’ll need a fair chunk of that additional seating if they get anywhere close to last year’s turnout. I’ve pinged Riot to ask how much seating could be extended, or whether they’ll be relying on the temporary seating that the Piazza can add.
Riot also released an infographic showcasing the changes to the 2016 OPL structure. The main adjustments are to a best-of-three structure for the OPL, while the challenger series will drop the tournament-style format for a round-robin, best of one series framework.
All images courtesy of Riot Games
Comments
7 responses to “Australia’s League Of Legends 2016 Finals Will Be In Brisbane”
lol, the Piazza is not designed for something like an e-sports finals. The seating faces the entrance so the main screen will have to be facing away from any passer bys, or extra viewers (which there will be given its limited seating). King George Square or even just parklands further up would be a better choice.
I was just thinking this. The design of the piazza is absolutely awful for an esports event. The lighting and acoustics are pretty awful for watching anything on a screen, and there is absolutely zero chance of them getting anything close to 750 in the standing area (since they need space for screens / booths / commentary team / etc, I’d actually be surprised if they got any additional seating in at all).
Why not the Entertainment Centre? I mean, I get that it’s out of the way, but the public transport links are great, you can easily fit in way more than the piazza (and there is actually realistic additional seating available on the floor), and it’s designed to cater to larger crowds. Hell, if you want it in close to town, put it on at the Convention Centre. It’s a stone’s throw from the piazza anyway but it could easily cater to a much larger crowd.
I’m guessing it’s a pricing issue, but this is an absolute clusterfuck that anyone with a lick of common sense can see coming a mile off.
Or just keep walking and go to the Convention Centre
I imagine the Convention Centre would be pretty expensive, since you’re paying a premium to be in the city. Given they chose the Piazza, obviously price is an issue, so the EC might be more realistic?
Either way, the piazza won’t work.
So Sydney gets EB Expo
Melbourne gets PAX
We get League of Legends… Whoop de fucking do! 🙁
Someone needs to bring MAG here.
Yeah they might want to seriously reconsider that “venue”. Anything that ever goes on there just has a stupidly limited crowd.
I wish we got RTX instead of LoL 🙁