Riot Games has agreed upon a multi-year deal with TEG Live and ESL Australia that will see the finals of the next League of Legends Oceanic Pro League (OPL) headline the Melbourne Esports Open at the Rod Laver Arena.
This partnership will see the OPL Finals be held exclusively at the Melbourne Esports Open until 2022 – at least. The Overwatch Contenders Australia Season 2 Finals from Blizzard were also announced as part of the Open.
This event sees multiple esports titles come together under one roof for a two-day festival, with both competitions and exposition. The Open is organised and ran in cooperation with the Melbourne government, with JB Hi-Fi – an Australian entertainment retailer – acting as the official presenting partner for three more years.
Riot Games is no stranger to having the OPL Finals held in a stadium environment. In 2015, the finals were hosted in Sydney’s Luna Park, and in 2016, they took place at Brisbane’s Courier-Mail Piazza. 2017, however, broke this trend – but now the Melbourne Esports Open gives Riot Games a reliable, definitive space in which it can host the tournament.
There are other titles beyond League of Legends and Overwatch that will have a presence at the Open, which are expected to be unveiled in the near future. Could there be a chance of the recently-announced Fortnite esports season being one of the competitions? There’s at least a chance, with qualifiers for the World Cup set to begin around Autumn of this year.
Tickets for the Melbourne Esports Open went live on June 21st, they’re available here. The event takes place over September 1st-2nd.
Esports Insider says: Giving the OPL Finals a platform such as the Melbourne Esports Opens seems as if it would help all parties involved, giving exposure to both the Open and the tournament itself. We’re intrigued to see which titles and competitions are announced next.
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