KeSPA Cup 2019 gets English broadcast after community backlash

KeSPA Cup 2019 will have an English broadcast after all, LCK caster Max “Atlus” Anderson announced.

Just a few days ago, League of Legends fans were disappointed to hear KeSpa Cup 2019, a Korean tournament where the LCK 2020 rosters perform for the first time ahead of the regular season, wouldn’t have an English broadcast. But with the power of the community and the support from Korean teams T1 and Gen.G, it has happened.

The English broadcast will be a home commentary run by Atlus, Nick “LS” De Cesare, Brendan “Valdes” Valdes, and Seth “Achilios” King. The LCK casters are running the stream on YouTube.

LCK fans are happy they got KeSPA English broadcast back

As soon as Atlus shared the announcement on Twitter, the comments blew up with positive responses. Fans were congratulating the casters, T1, Gen.G, and each other for a successful turn of events. A number of League personalities joined in the hype as well.

Besides the community backlash, T1 CEO Joe Marsh and Gen.G COO Arnold Hur helped a lot in the cause. Marsh tweeted to Korean Esports Organization, the main organizer of the KeSPA Cup, that the tournament needs an English stream.

“We are a global league and should be reaching out to all fans,” Marsh tweeted. “Let’s start the 2020 season the proper way.”

The two then offered to help with the funding of the English broadcast, but it’s unclear whether they were then directly involved in the decision. Marsh shared with a fan talking with KeSPA wasn’t optional, as the decision was “shortsighted and frustrating,” and that he hoped the organization would reconsider.

And so it did. The fifth annual edition of the KeSpa Cup started on December 23 with an English broadcast. Fans already had an opportunity to see two sets of matches of the elimination rounds that resulted in Afreeca Freecs, and Brion Blade advancing to the qualifying round.

The next game will see KT Rolster clash with Ulsan, with KT being the evident favorite.