Shanghai offered to host The International this year, but Valve refused
??LGD Esports club manager ??Pan "Ruru" Jie claims that Valve had an offer to host The International this year, but they refused.
??Pan "Ruru" Jie is one of the famous personalities in the Chinese Dota 2 scene. She is the founder of ??LGD Gaming, VPGame, and VPEsports, so it can be said that she knows everything that is happening in the Chinese region.
On her personal page on Weibo, Ruru posted a letter in which she spoke about the situation with TI:
"Yes, the Shanghai government is willing to support the same level of LOL World Championship Series, but Valve said no to the proposal. In fact, in April and May, Dr.Xiao(CEO of PerfectWorld.) applied to Valve to host this year's TI in Shanghai. And the Shanghai government also stated that it would fully support it. But Valve refused."
Later, Valve spoke about this in a personal blog and said that TI wouldn't be this year. The organization postponed it to the next one. They considered the possibility of holding the tournament without spectators but rejected the idea. Interestingly, right now, the main competitor of Dota 2, League of Legends from Riot Games, is hosting an analog of TI — Worlds 2020. The tournament is held in LAN format in China.