MPL PH looking to hold games offline in S9, but no live audience for now

After holding the past four Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Philippines seasons online due to COVID-19, will the tournament finally go offline and welcome back a live audience come Season 9 on February 18?

According to Moonton senior public relations manager Kelly Chiew, they are looking at staging the regular season in one venue where all participants will be situated for the duration of the games.

Chiew, though, clarified that in the event that Season 9 will be held offline, no live audience will be allowed in the venue.

"We are intending to go fully offline for the regular season, but without a live audience for now," Chiew told GMA News Online in a message.

"No changes for now, and we are closely observing the COVID-19 situation and will continuously conduct assessments on the environment."

MPL Philippines has been holding the games purely online since the second half of Season 5 in early 2020, or when the government announced a nationwide lockdown due to the pandemic.

It will be a challenging task, though, for the professional league to return to an offline set-up as the Philippines is currently seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. 

The country on Friday recorded a total of 21, 819 new cases.

—JMB, GMA News