ESL Pro League Season 11 to be played out online, Denver finals moved to studio location

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, ESL has made the decision to play the regular season of ESL Pro League online, while the finals have been moved to a studio location in Europe, the organizers have announced.

The decision was made hours after the Maltese government announced new travel bans from four countries in addition to Italy from March 12, with Germany, Spain, France, and Switzerland added to the list just four days ahead of the start of the eleventh season of Pro League.

In the announcement, ESL explained that the travel restrictions are preventing their staff as well as some of the participating teams from traveling to a single location for multiple weeks, and added that the "big majority" of the 24 teams participating in the league are already in Europe.

Originally supposed to take place in Denver, the finals will be played without audience in a studio location

Barring changes to the schedule, the eleventh season will kick off on March 16 with Groups A and B, followed by Groups C and D from March 26 to April 4. The playoffs, featuring the top twelve teams, are scheduled to run from April 5-12.

The cancellation of the finals in Denver's 1STBANK Center comes as yet another blow to ESL after IEM Katowice's mass event license was withdrawn on the eve of the playoffs, causing the tournament organizer to hold the bracket stage without an audience in the Spodek arena and refund all tickets.

It is also the second CS:GO arena event canceled following FLASHPOINT's decision to hold the entirety of the first edition in a studio setting in Los Angeles instead of moving to Stockholm for the finals.

Many other public events are being canceled all around the world as the coronavirus outbreak expands each day and was officially declared a pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organization) on Wednesday, with over 110 countries affected and over 120,000 cases confirmed.