KeSPA decides not to run English broadcast for 2019 Kespa Cup

League of Legends fans were disappointed to hear this year’s KeSPA Cup won’t have an English broadcast.

Popular LCK caster Max “Atlus” Anderson shared on Twitter he was let know KeSPA Cup 2019 won’t run a broadcast for English speaking audience. Together with other organizers of the event, the Korean Esports Association decide to not even allow English casters to rebroadcast the tournament from their own homes, in spite of not offering an English broadcast themselves.

A large number of fans of the Korean League of Legends scene shared their disappointment with the news, to which a couple of larger personalities have joined as well. Atlus later joined a Reddit thread to share how underwhelming this decision is, and thank everyone for being loud about it so the English-speaking audience wouldn’t get overlooked again.

“Last year we had so much fun celebrating Christmas day with you guys while we got to see all the new teams and players before LCK begins,” Atlus said. “I appreciate everyone’s passion for our English Broadcast, hopefully, this will help send a message for future tournaments so we’re not overlooked again.”

Wester fans will have to settle for the Korean broadcast and related discussions about the KeSPA Cup games on social media.

LCK 2020 rosters debut at KeSPA Cup 2019

KeSPA Cup 2019 is starting on December 23 for its fifth edition. The tournament will see 20 teams participate in a fight for the ₩158,000,000 (~$136,000,000) prize pool. Ten of those teams are participants in the upcoming LCK 2020 Spring Split, and the tournament will mark the first time these new rosters show up on a stage. The other 10 teams are coming from CK 2019 Summer, CK Qualifiers, and the 2019 KeG Championship.

The four teams with the highest amount of Championship Points will wait in the playoffs for the other teams to qualify through elimination rounds, including Sandbox Gaming, Griffin, T1, and Damwon Gaming.