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    The Nationals esports league eyeing September opening for new season

    Esports league making adjustments to thrive amid pandemic
    Aug 19, 2020

    DESPITE the difficult times, The Nationals is looking to kick off its season next month.

    The Esports league is currently making the necessary adjustments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and among those changes is the plan to shift the games online.

    The Nationals commissioner Ren Vitug believes competition and sports can bring joy and hope to the people especially in this trying times.

    And out of all sports, esports is one of the best equipped to thrive during the pandemic, being a perfect advocate of protocols with regards to social distancing.

    “We think that there is an opportunity to inspire,” said Vitug in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday launching the second season of the league that was originally scheduled last March until the outbreak of COVID-19.

    “Not just in giving joy to the people, but also by using the platform that the teams and we have to spread awareness,” he added. “Of course, the league also generates jobs for a lot of players, their support staff, and in many other interfaces.”

    Esports is a non-contact game to begin with, and moving the games online allows the league to run while completely elimination physical human contact.

    Although online play seems synonymous with esports, The Nationals is unique after all of its tournament games last year were played in a studio setting.

    Such atmosphere opened opportunities in production like live audiences, captured player reactions, and on-the-spot interviews, something which most esports events and league rarely have.

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      For the new season, The Nationals plans to line-up the three games it featured last year, namely Tekken 7, Dota 2, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

      Pending approvals, the games will be played for a conference each in that order.

      Owing to the current health situation, the league plans to shorten the season featuring just three conferences compared to the six it had last year.

      The condensed calendar is not any different from the approach, or at least to the plans of various sports leagues seeking to resume play this year.

      At the same time, The Nationals have been working closely with the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) to ensure that upon its resumption, it will not be at the expense of the health and safety of its stakeholders.

      The recently signed Joint Administrative Order of GAB, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and the Department of Health (DoH) is the primary benchmark on which the guidelines are tailored from.

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      The Nationals is the country’s first franchise-based esports league and inaugurated last year featuring three games and opening opportunities for more than a hundred local professional athletes.

      Aside from the regular salary of active players, the league also gave incentives to top performers by handing out more than P5 million in cash prizes.

      The league players also helped secure gold medals for the Philippine team when esports made its debut in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
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