NA LCS 2018 Summer Finals will be at the Oracle Arena

The 2018 NA LCS Summer Finals will be hosted at Oakland’s Oracle Arena the weekend of September 8, Riot Games announced Monday in a press release. It’s the first Riot-hosted esports event held in the Bay Area, and the first League of Legends esports event since IEM Oakland in November 2016.

Oracle Arena is best known as the home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and is currently hosting games in the NBA Playoffs. The Warriors are an affiliate of the Golden Guardians, one of the newest teams in the NA LCS. The venue originally opened in 1966, was renovated 30 years later and can seat up to 20,000 people in the audience.

”As an organization, we are looking forward to seeing the best of the NA LCS compete at our home court at Oracle Arena,” Kirk Lacob, Vice President of Golden State Warriors Sports Ventures, said in Riot’s press release. “Oracle Arena has hosted some of the top basketball talent in the world over the last few years, so it’s fitting that the top teams in the NA LCS will face off in Oakland as well.”

This is actually the first time the event will return to California since four of the first five NA LCS Finals were held in Los Angeles. Following the 2015 Spring Finals in LA, the event has jumped around to New York City, Las Vegas, Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, and most recently, Miami. Oracle Arena is the fourth basketball venue to host the NA LCS Finals, following Madison Square Garden (2015 Summer), the Air Canada Centre (2016 Summer) and TD Garden (2017 Summer).

Riot says tickets will become available after the start of the Summer Split.