United States31378 Posts
First, the DreamHack Atlanta main event (Nov 18-20) will not have the casters (line-up TBD) attending in person—instead they will be casting remotely from the ESL studios in Stockholm.
The broadcast talent lineup for Atlanta Finals will be finalized and announced soon – we hope that our community will enjoy the casts from these amazing professionals we are going to work with! However, we do want to mention that we will produce the online broadcast remotely from ESL studios in Stockholm, so attendees won’t be able to meet broadcast talent onsite. We will however be sure to arrange player meet-and-greets, so we do hope to see you there!
Second, one or more of the venues for IEM Katowice 2023 (Feb 8-12) will be changed. Previously, the RO36 matches were held behind closed doors, the RO24 through RO8 were played in an auditorium inside the convention center, and the semis through grand finals were played in the Spodek Arena.
In the changed plan, the semis and finals will no longer be played in Spodek. However, ESL is considering moving the entire playoffs (RO12 and onward) from the auditorium onto a new stage inside the expo area (IEM Katowice typically has a large expo area, similar to a DreamHack festival, concurrent with the esports competitions).
Please note, that while we love to have the final matches played in Spodek Arena, this has made it difficult for visitors to tune in and condensed the tournament schedule as the start time of the IEM SC2 Katowice Grandfinal was always far from great for NA and even partially for EU – being not in Spodek means we now have much more freedom in terms of scheduling the event in general and the final day in particular.
Finally, ESL announced that Team Liquid Map Contest #17 maps would be “considered” for inclusion in the IEM Katowice Map Pool. Keep in mind that TLMC #16 maps were quickly implemented by ESL in tournaments such as the Open Cups and DH: Valencia, even before Blizzard added them to the official ladder.
United States2549 Posts
Canada8031 Posts
If we’re poor, we’re poor, there’s not much point clinging to a veil of “professional” broadcasting.
Canada8002 Posts
On September 28 2022 07:43 AirbladeOrange wrote:
Not having the casters there in person bothers me. Seems like it would throw off the feel of an offline tournament.
ESL is great at remote casting from the studio. They’re doing it with CS:GO Pro League Season 16 right now. It’s not going to be as hype but still works.
Bisutopia18655 Posts
United States12565 Posts
If cost is the issue, I would have rather just invited a bunch of the American commentators (Steadfast, feardragon, Beomulf, catz, etc.) That would have been a better decision.
I saw Wardi and Nathanias making good points how this brings down other costs (hotel, bringing production staff, etc.), but then I would have rather ESL just not have a Dreamhack Atlanta then. Don’t know if I’m alone in that opinion, esp. speaking as an American.
1625 Posts
United Kingdom914 Posts
why not do it like this
Atalanta: stripped-down bare-bones scrappy on-site LAN party production with a few US commentators on rotation. nothing fancy, just webcams and microphones to bridge the gap between the live audience and stream, while BisuDagger danders around doing interviews on a camera phone. he’d be the war correspondent on the front lines with his shaky video feed. that’d be hype af
Stockholm: big flashy off-site production with the analysis desk, discussion panel and all that other shite that helps people pretend that sc2 is still a relevant 
boom, now you have a bigger feel transatlantic production that still has a soul
United States31378 Posts
Malaysia1949 Posts
![[ASL15] Finals Preview: Sunset](https://platogaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/asl15-finals-preview-sunset.png)