LEC Roadtrip is the Proof that Esports Needs more Offline Events

In esports, moments are everything. The roar when teamfights unfold. The hype when the players enter the arena. The burst of the crowd when T1 lifted the trophy at Worlds. These moments don’t happen in isolation—they’re created by the presence of people: fans, players, and the hype that only an offline audience can bring.

But right now, the majority of EMEA League of Legends competition happens inside a modest Berlin studio with a few hundred people in capacity. While it offers a consistent show with extremely high production value and stability, there have been several constraints, especially when it comes to growth.

It was evident during the LEC Roadtrip in Madrid. The event hosted by Movistar KOI took place at the Madrid Arena, and the event saw thousands of fans watching games live, bringing an incredible level of excitement, adrenaline. This kind of tension can only be brought with big crowds, like it happens in traditional sports, and as of right now, the Berlin studio doesn’t cut it. So what’s the solution? Let’s dive deeper.

The LEC Needs to Have More Offline Events Across Europe to Accommodate its Big Audience

Let’s be clear: the Riot Games Arena is still vital for the league. It has set a standard for the past years, bringing in high-quality broadcasts every week in one of the most professional environments an esports ecosystem could ever ask for. The centralization has its own advantages, such as maintaining consistent production and high competitive integrity.

Let’s be clear: the Riot Games Arena is a production powerhouse. The LEC has set the gold standard for weekly broadcasts with cinematic quality, tightly-run schedules, and a professional playing environment. With all teams based in Berlin, it also made it easier for them to reduce logistical burden, which usually tied to operational efficiency and cost reduction.

That said, the European and global esports fanbase has been increasing year by year, and while it may not have grown exponentially as some predicted in the past, it’s clear that the 200-seat studio is heavily impacting the potential of the LEC at the current state.

Only some of the most hardcore fans are willing to fly over to Berlin to watch the games in the studio due to how expensive it can be, considering additional costs like transportation and accommodation, and most of the time, the experience might not great, like it happened during the VCT EMEA postponed matchday last week.

When I was attending Worlds 2024 on-site last year, the atmosphere at the Riot Games Arena felt dull. I was excited to see the players and the matches but rarely had I felt the adrenaline and the hype when the big decisive moments unfolded.

The difference between Paris and Berlin was literally day and night. We all know how passionate French fans are when it comes to esports, but seeing such a lively crowd and cheering for any team that was delivering top-tier League of Legends performances was just another feeling.

European fans are known for being emotional and highly invested in traditional sports such as football, and I felt the same when I was attending the semifinals in Paris. The chills during the matches I had in France were even higher than when I watched T1 defeat BLG in the Grand Final. What do I think was the difference? The crowd.

Esports is all about the community

The reason why esports has boomed so much over the years is the spectacle it gives to those who want to feel the adrenaline in high-stakes matches. Aside from the team you might be rooting for, esports fans all reunite because we all love the same thing. Witnessing the moments together and sharing those emotions in arenas makes it all the better, with the chills down your spine.

One of the LEC hosts, Eefje ‘sjokz’ Depoortere, explained why offline events are so vital to growing the esports community during the LEC Roadtrip in Madrid last weekend:

It’s something but better… it’s so insane in here. My job gets a lot better and a lot easier, all our jobs get a lot easier, for the players it’s incredible, for the fans it’s incredible, and it’s making me remember why I loved this job in the first place. Honestly, sometimes this is so much fucking better. It’s amazing that Movistar KOI was able to set this up really, because we are just guests, right? This is all their production. Almost no one from the LEC is here: it’s myself, Jack, and Goldberg on the desk, and maybe five people or something. It’s crazy. When you look at CS esports events with arenas and stadiums filled every two weeks… there are so many things that happen in a stadium that don’t happen anywhere else. You cannot replicate that in a 200-person studio. It’s those things, those occasions, that bind the fans to you forever. They remember that feeling, that excitement, that emotion, and the absolute hellfire of a stadium. I think it’s so incredibly important, and yeah, I feel really lucky to be here.

The latest LEC Roadtrip by OverActive Media‘s team saw thousands of fans coming to fill out the Madrid Arena, and in two weeks’ time, fans will fill out the Karmine Corp stadium in Evry, France, which has a capacity of 3,000 fans.

Is the Economic Aspect the Biggest Constraint?

One of the counterarguments often raised against bringing more live events is the economic aspect. Live events have a high fixed-cost structure, considering the venue rental, logistics, ad-hoc production, as well as the marketing and promotion required. If the venues do not get filled out most of the time, the revenues generated are not good enough to cover the costs. Ticket revenue is rarely enough to generate a profit, which is why, most of the time, you get additional economic value by finding partners or sponsors to activate at the events.

From a sponsor’s perspective, however, the money poured into the sponsorship packages needs to bring enough exposure, engagement, and ultimately a return on investment. If the venues do not get filled out, then the whole revenue generation is directly impacted, and sponsors risk stepping out if results are not met.

Team-Hosted Events – Is this the Middle Ground Solution?

This is why I believe that while we do need to have more offline events, it’s important to strike a balance for the current state of the industry.

Unlike football, which has billions of fans around the world, esports is just a small fraction of that, and in most cases, fans are quite spread across different locations and continents. It’s hard to find big communities, let alone find ones that are willing to fly to all events their favorite teams or players are attending. Some of the Karmine Corp (KC) fans did it at First Stand in South Korea, but even then, they were only a few hundred at maximum.

The LEC Roadtrips are a great way to make those opportunities become a reality. Hosting teams have a chance to involve their own communities in the events, localizing the fandom, and creating special moments for those attending and the ones watching online. The main concern going forward, however, is how many offline events would make sense to have each season. Live events lose their magic if they happen too often. Scarcity creates value — saturation kills it.

Moreover, there are a bunch of other potential issues tied to having live events, such as potential competitive integrity risks and how players can be affected by travel and the schedules, on top of the aforementioned economic aspect.

So what is the Future of Esports in EMEA?

Europe has been proving that there are big communities out there willing to be present at premium roadshows, and it’s probably time we move away from the centralized arena in Berlin. Of course, there are going to be a large number of concerns to be considered while switching something that has been working for years, but if esports wants to grow further, it needs to push the offline presence more.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of a hybrid model in the next few years, with an increasing number of LEC Roadtrips from the most popular teams. Bringing the events to some of the biggest cities across Europe would not only be great for the growth of the league but also to incentivize other aspects tied to tourism, which opens up new opportunities from local governments as well. Having Berlin as the main home is still fine, but it shouldn’t be the only one.

European League of Legends is holding strong despite not having the greatest international results (aside from KC) in recent times. It’s time to scale the product even more, and this is probably one of the best opportunities we have at the current moment.