Following in the footsteps of the Episode III LAN before it, the touted North American LAN event in partnership with Beyond The Summit has been canceled.

The event was originally meant to run on January 18-19, 2020 at BTS' studio in Covina, California, with a community-backed prize pool, and would have been the first intercontinental TF2 LAN in North America since Esports Arena's Rewind 2 event.

In the days leading up to this announcement, tsc announced on Twitter that they would be leaving the event's staff, following drama surrounding the player alfa and their team's status in the event.

The next day, organizer samiface made official in the BTSTF2 Discord that the event had been cancelled.

Unfortunately, due to recent events the BTS TF2 event has been canceled. I want to reassure everyone that this was my decision and had nothing to do with BTS. I will not be participating in a leadership capacity in any future TF2 events. We apologize to the community for the disappointment.

In the wake of the announcement, nerdRage member counou gave a brief statement speaking to how the event's cancellation impacts their team's financial situations.

We’re down a couple grand in total between us, and I’ve got to refund $350 in donations. Thankfully, airbnb’s are refundable, but our flights, which were upwards of £400 each, are not. So for me and a few others on our team, this means a couple months’ wages are gone. We’re not happy but I’’m not going to be dramatic about it.

UPDATE - 11/9/19 7:00 PM EST: Remaining BtSTF2 staff members are attempting to salvage the event and are engaging with BeyondTheSummit with this in mind. No promises can or should be made at this point regarding the future of the event, but attempts are being made to track which players and teams could still attend.

The staff would like to apologize to BeyondTheSummit, players, sponsors, and others in the community who have been affected by this incident. Behavior that harms members of our community will not be tolerated and moving forward we must improve how we handle all aspects of such incidents better.

UPDATE - 11/25/19 11:00 PM EST: The remaining organisers have provided teamfortresstv with an update.

Since the success of the Rewind LANs, organizing another TF2 LAN in the Los Angeles area has been an ambition for many in the community. While support for such an event remains high, there are significant obstacles community organizers must overcome in order to host a successful tournament.

Unfortunately, not for lack of trying or lack of support, attempts to salvage the "BeyondTheSummit TF2" event have not been successful and the remaining organizers have decided to cancel the event. The time crunch has only been getting more severe and while there was progress on many of the key issues the remaining problems are too severe to solve before the previously scheduled dates. A small community get together is a possibility for locals and players still traveling to LA, but larger efforts to organize a tournament and coverage have ceased.

While this concept for a LA LAN has now been cancelled for a third time, the crew of organizers behind this recent attempt remain optimistic about the future of Team Fortress 2 LAN tournaments in North America. While there are other events under discussion, NA community members can look forward to the inevitable TF2 presence at the unannounced RGB 5 in Philadelphia.

It is our hope that in January 2021 North America can host a premier TF2 event that matches the caliber of Copenhagen Games and InsomniaLAN.