League of Legends Worlds 2022: Riot Games Moves Semifinals from Toronto to Atlanta

Riot Games revealed that the semifinals event of League of Legends Worlds 2022 has been moved from the Toronto Scotiabank Arena to the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. As a result of this venue change, the teams will not be touching down in Canada.

The semifinals of League of Legends Worlds 2022 initially were set to take place at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, but due to COVID-19 impacting the viability of securing multi-entry visas to the United States within critical timelines, Riot made the decision to move the location to make it easier for teams competing in all stages of the tournament.

League of Legends Worlds 2022 Semifinals will now take place in the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The State Farm Arena is the home of the NBA’s [National Basketball Association] Atlanta Hawks and has a seating capacity of 21,000 people in the audience.

Riot Games makes official announcement about League of Legends Worlds 2022

The news was first reported by Jacob Wolf and was later confirmed by Riot Games and League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports) channels.

Global Head of LoL Esports Naz Aletaha said, “We are committed to upholding our tradition of a multi-city Worlds tour despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, and look forward to hosting the 2022 Semifinals at the state-of-the-art State Farm Arena in Atlanta.”

She also added that Riot Games thanked Toronto, Scotiabank Arena, and the League of Legends community for their understanding. “We look forward to bringing a major LoL Esports event there in the future.”

This year Worlds 2022 is touring North America and Scotiabank Arena was selected as one of the four venues for this year’s tournament. The play-ins, the group stage and the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the grand finals are all scheduled to take place in different cities in North America.

Riot Games releases new city schedule for Worlds 2022

According to Riot, the following is the new and updated city schedule for League of Legends Worlds 2022:

• Play-Ins: Mexico City, Mexico

• Groups & Quarterfinals: New York, New York

• Semifinals: Atlanta, Georgia

• Finals: San Francisco, California

The play-ins of League of Legends Worlds 2022 will take place in Mexico City at the LoL Esports’ Liga Latinoamérica (LLA) Competition Arena. It shall then move to the Hulu Theatre at the Madison Square Garden in New York City for the group stage and the quarterfinals. Further on from there it shall then move to the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and then finally close the tournament in style at the 19,500-seat Chase Center in San Francisco.

Riot Games has not yet revealed information about the dates of the tournament or the schedule. It said, “Information regarding dates, seeding, and ticket sales will be shared later this summer.”

The North American fans are really excited for this year’s Worlds since the region has not hosted Worlds since 2016.