Challengers League Polaris to nix broadcast for some matches, only have watch parties
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesThe Valorant Challengers League Northern Europe: Polaris tournament organizer Promod Esports is going to lower costs for Split 2 by not broadcasting the second match day and instead having steamers and influencers watch party the games.
Polaris will see some changes going into Split 2, which begins on April 3, as the tournament organizer for the league continues to cut costs. In an email sent out to the teams participating in its Valorant league, Promod Esports is cutting costs by not broadcasting its Tuesday matches.
Instead, the league will work with streamers and influencers to have watch parties for the matches.
With this move, Promod will significantly cut costs by not having to pay casters and other parts of production that go into running an esports broadcast.
“The news from Polaris really came as a surprise today, we were under the impression there would be improvements from the last Split, not the opposite. We wanna be excited about the next split, but it just got even harder to get signed as a team,” one source who competes in the league told Dexerto.
Challengers League Polaris to switch to watch parties for part of the broadcast
This is an unprecedented move by the league. While watch parties and co-streams have become commonplace for esports broadcasts and events, no league or tournament has fully handed the reigns over to streamers to broadcast their matches.
The second-tier leagues in Europe continue to have a tough time as organizations dissolve or leave Valorant. The Valorant Challengers League Polaris has been no exception as the competition only has three esports organizations with teams in the league and five free-agent squads.
According to the email, the league has cut costs previously in Split 1 by hiring in-house and removing love social media coverage.
