Riot Games unveiled their plans today at the Chase Center in San Francisco about their locations for Worlds 2022.
For the past few Worlds, fans have not been able to join in with the event on site. However, that has not stopped Worlds 2021 from shattering viewership records with a great final between DAMWON KIA and EDward Gaming. Thus, with all that said, Worlds 2022 is set to be hosted in North America and will send teams to four cities across the continent.
The Announcement
The announcement came through today before the Golden State Warriors vs Toronto Raptors game at the Chase Center. Many of the senior executives were there from Riot for the region as well as veteran players and established casters. The people in attendance for the announcement were as follows:
- John Needham, President of Riot Games Esports.
- Naz Aletaha, Global Head of LoL Esports
- Chris Greeley, Head of Esports, North America and Oceania Pacific
- Martin Blaquier, Head of Esports, Latin America
- Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, top laner for Golden Guardians, LCS
- Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun, support for 100 Thieves, LCS
- Isaac “Azael” Cummings-Bentley, commentator and analyst
- Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler, commentator and analyst
Locations
The cities set to host Worlds 2022 are Mexico City, New York City, Toronto, and San Francisco. Mexico City and Toronto will be hosting a LoL Event for the first time and this is the very first time Worlds is being hosted across multiple countries. As Naz Aletaha alluded to, the aim is to allow fans if COVID permits for the tournament coming next year. It is a big announcement for Riot to make after a few weeks of Worlds 2021 ending.
Each City will host a different part of the tournament. Thus, here is which city will host what phase of the tournament:
- Play-ins In Mexico City
- Groups Stage and Quarterfinals in New York City
- Semifinals in Toronto
- Finals in San Francisco
The Play-ins will be held in Mexico City as Mexico hosts a LoL Esports for the first time. The venue for the Play-ins is set to be the LoL Esports’ Liga Latinoamerica (LLA) competition arena. After that, the tournament moves to New York City for the Groups Stage and Quarterfinals in the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden.
The Semifinals will be in Toronto in Scotiabank Arena, a famous arena in Canada and one of the best available in the country. Chase Center, the home of the Golden State Warriors, will host the Finals for Worlds 2022 as it being the 10th unique stadium to host the Worlds 2022 Finals.
This is a huge announcement for the region as a whole as Riot tours the continent with their biggest tournament of a calendar year. More details will be published soon in the coming months.
