With the news of the Superbowl happening this Sunday, Riot purposely cancelled all games for us to watch this sunday. This is extremely bad for the players, the organization, and the sport. Why cancel over some silly sporting event? It doesn't matter at all
eSports is better any day of the week, and canceling Sunday games we are missing out on 1 game (3 games on Saturday which is a nice replacement). At first glance, Riot choosing not to schedule VCT matches on the Sunday of the Super Bowl might seem reasonable. I agree that the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events. However, this represents a failure to respect esports fans, a surrender to traditional sports culture, and a clear act of emotional damage toward the dedicated Valorant community.
Another point is that not all Valorant fans even watch football. In fact, many VCT viewers are international. The Super Bowl is primarily an American event, yet Riot paused a global esport for it?? Imagine being a fan in Europe or Asia, opening the VCT schedule, and seeing no matches because of an event happening thousands of miles away that you do not care about. That’s like canceling the World Cup because there’s a GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL (joke. i love it, but still) match somewhere. It makes no sense and unfairly centers one region’s traditions over a worldwide audience. If anything, VCT should boldly run at the same time just to prove that esports belongs on the same stage. True equality means competing for attention, not stepping aside.
I want to emphasize that I also personally like the Super bowl. Definitely an event to not miss, but how does that justify this?? Riot also single handedly ruined the scheduling for Lower Bracket (and potentially other brackets too, but lower is the most prevalent.) With there being 1 less game, that meant the Lower Round 4 tournament is played next week. What could've been a Sunday game means that teams have to play 3 games in a row, starting from the most important games. (I understand there still would've been teams that play 3 games, but clearing out eliminations faster, and leading more important games to take breaks is way better). Riot also tends to favor the team that wins from the lower bracket and gives them the time advantage, but in this case, it's the Middle Round teams that hav a week break if they lose. Makes no sense
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