KODE5 makes a huge change of plans, and bans HLTV.org from the grand finals. Instead, KODE5 will be using their own hltv, KODE5 HLTV.

Just a month ago, HLTV.org and KODE5 did a joint press release where KODE5 re-affirmed their commitment to HLTV.org.

This is what Nomad had to say in the official post by HLTV:

For the past many years HLTV.org have been carrying the base load of HLTV spectators for every major event, very few times do we host less than 3/4ths of the total spectators at an event, making it possible for smaller hosters also to chip in. Without our base load service I very much doubt anyone have the setup and experience needed to provide HLTV for such a big event as KODE5. We are truly sorry that this move from KODE5 will most likely hit all spectators who wish nothing but to follow their favorite team, but know that we did everything in our power to be allowed to host HLTV, even steps that HLTV.org has never before taken were tried and rejected by KODE5. We of course hope that whoever will host the event will succeed, our commitment is to getting high quality HLTV broadcasts, and in theory actually save a lot of money from not having to pay all the bandwidth. However we can only stress that hosting HLTV for a big event is not something you just do.

KODE5 informed HLTV.org that they were being droped for a contract violation with one of their sponsors. The contract was not violated during the qualifiers, and HLTV.org has not brought in a new sponsor in six months.