Turkish Champions League (TCL) – Riot Games’ professional League of Legends competition based in Turkey – is gearing up for its 2019 Winter Season, and it’ll take all place in a brand new arena.

The Espor Sahnesi will open on January 19th, the first day of Turkey’s premier LoL league’s triumphant return.

The Espor Sahnesi arena is based in Istanbul and will house all of the competition from the upcoming season of the TCL. 10 teams will battle it out against each other, with five matches being played per day.

Erdinç İyikul, Head of Publishing at Riot Games Turkey spoke to Hurriyet Daily News: “Having more than 1000 seat capacity will be Europe’s biggest and take place among the World’s top 5 arenas. There will be a huge scene, referee rooms, player rooms, social places and also roof will be openable. Even Korea has places which has around 500 capacity, but we are building an arena with 1000 capacity. We will transform this scene into a culture center. In the past, esports players were watching matches at home, but with the new center they will be able to come together with esports enthusiasts.

“Espor Sahnesi will also include a museum that shows the journey of esports. Furthermore, supporters will be able to buy esports stuffs and their favorite team’s goods from here.”

The teams that will compete in the arena are 1907 Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş Esports, Bursaspor Esports, Dark Passage, Galakticos, Galatasaray Esports, HWA Gaming, Royal Youth, SuperMassive Esports, and Team AURORA.

This will be the first season of TCL adopting a franchising model, much like the LEC – the European competition formerly known as the EU LCS. First announced in June last year, the TCL has expanded from eight to 10 teams and will re-evaluate its teams every three years.

Esports Insider says: The arena sounds great, but the real proof will be in the pudding. The TCL is evidently hoping to achieve growth with the addition of franchising and accommodating for over 1,000 fans with a shiny new venue could well help with that.

Source: Playerbros