Jonas Alsaker Vikan · @bslfromESL
10th Feb 2018 from TwitLonger
On stage matches for ESL Katowice (Dota)
Hello Dota fans,
we have seen the unhappiness about the ESL One Katowice schedule which has 3 matches on Saturday and the grand final on Sunday. We wanted to explain the reasoning behind this and also the thought process going forward
Similar to ESL One Hamburg, Katowice was planned and booked as a two day event a long time ago. Adding another day at an arena is not something that can simply be done after the fact, even though our upcoming Dota events will feature 3 days in the arena. With two days in the arena, what you can do logistically is limited. We have in the past ran events with four bo3’s in one day, which often brought us in situations where we exceeded opening hours and risked getting shut down by officials. At one event, we even had to reschedule a match to the next day.
On the other hand, there has been a very strong sentiment to have the finals on Sunday bo5 instead of bo3 (a key point of criticism at ESL One Hamburg), which means it can also not happen together with the two semi finals due to length of the day with two bo3, a break for players and then a bo5.
Together with survey feedback at our events that the majority would like each day to be between 6 and 8 hours, this resulted in the schedule we have now seen in Genting for example - 2 QF on Friday, 2 SF on Saturday, 1 GF on Sunday.
This was the original plan as well for Katowice. Due to it being a two day event only, we were looking for ways to get more content in, which resulted in the second QF being shifted to Saturday.
We understand that the amount of matches was communicated on a part of the website which wasn’t obvious to everyone, hence ticket buyers are now disappointed. For that reason, we are looking into ways to add additional content now. The potential options are the addition of the second QF in some form as well as a showmatch on Sunday. We will look into all options after the weekend and then keep you updated on the outcome.