Two-Week Delay Announced for 2023 LCS Summer Split with Possible Cancelation

The LCS Summer Splits scheduled to start yesterday, June 1, are facing two weeks of delay. The chance of cancellation is high.

What is LCS?

LCS, or The League Championship Series, is a league held for top-level professional League of Legends players in Canada and the United States. This competition is run by Riot Games and consists of ten teams.
Each annual includes two splits, the Spring Split and the Summer Split. The double-elimination tournament held between the top eight teams concludes the splits. The top three teams of the summer playoffs qualify for the League of Legends World Championship.

No Challengers League Participation Required For LCS Teams

The North American League of Legends scene has been struggling for quite a while now. A significant decrease in viewership has led to a lack of sponsorships, and the general bad international result has been causing concern for the entire scene.
On May 12, Riot Games announced that teams in the LCS were no longer required to field teams in the North American Challengers League. The decision came after Riot had promised to not make any changes to NACL rules for this year.

The 2023 Walkout

Following Riot’s announcement, the LCSPA, League of Legends Championship Series Player Association, showed extreme opposition to the decision. The players’ union claims that as a result of the lift, up to 70 people, including coaches, managers, and even players, will lose their jobs.
LCSPA called for a walkout. The option of players walking out was put to the vote, and the vast majority opted to follow through with it. Out of the ten teams competing, seven of them have pulled out of the NACL. The only three remaining teams are Team Liquid, FlyQuest, and Evil Guineses. This marks the first-ever strike in the history of esports.

The LCSPA’s Demands

After the walkout vote on May 28, The LCSPA put out a list of demands to Riot. 

• A Valorant-style promotion and relegation system between the LCS and NACL
• Riot to commit $300,000 per NACL team per year for player salaries
• Allowing LCS organizations to partner with NACL affiliates
• Riot to guarantee league minimum contracts to the LCS Summer Finals winners each year
• A 3/5ths roster continuity rule to provide released players from NACL rosters first priority on maintaining their spot if they continue to compete together

Let’s go over these demands together.

A Valorant-style promotion and relegation system between the LCS and NACL

LCSPA knew from the outset that this particular request would be the most difficult to fulfil, and as anticipated by many, Riot Games is not inclined to alter its franchising model for League of Legends esports. Unlike Valorant, the teams in LCS had to pay approximately $10 million each to secure their positions in the league, which makes it challenging to introduce more teams into this closed system, even if there is no guarantee of relegation for the ten franchised teams. Furthermore, given the current economic difficulties faced by the esports industry as a whole, it is not unexpected that Riot is not entertaining the idea.

Riot guarantees LCS minimum contracts for the following year for five players who win NACL Summer Finals

Riot has rejected this request by stating that it is up to the teams to determine which players should be included in the LCS. However, there could be some confusion regarding this matter. LCSPA’s initial Twitter post was regarding players who won the LCS Summer, while Riot’s article referred to NACL winners. Therefore, there could be some miscommunication or misunderstanding somewhere along the line.

A 3/5ths roster continuity rule to provide released players from NACL rosters first priority on maintaining their spot if they continue to compete together

Riot has disagreed with this demand as well. Saying that “Teams provide greater continuity and structure, and therefore we will continue with our policy of slot ownership residing with organizations rather than players.”

Riot to commit $300,000 per NACL team per year for player salaries

Riot does not disclose any information regarding the revenue generated by LoL Esports in general or any specific leagues, making it difficult to determine the significance of the requested pool of $3 million to $4.8 million. Although the NACL had 16 teams in the Spring, it currently has 10 teams, which further complicates the context.
Despite this, the article argues that providing such a subsidy would be unsustainable and unnecessary since no other lower-tier league requires this level of assistance. Instead, Riot plans to offer a one-time payment of $300,000 to the NACL’s Tournament Operator, Rally Cry, to support the NACL teams during the transition to the new structure.

Allowing LCS organizations to partner with NACL affiliates

According to Riot, the act of team partnerships is currently permitted and will remain permissible. For example, Golden Guardians had already declared their association with Area of Effect when they stated their departure from NACL.

Riot’s Response

So far, Riot hasn’t taken kindly to LCSPA’s demands. It does not look like they will make any of the changes requested by the union. So far, Riot has delayed the 2023 LCS Summer Split for two weeks. This window is mainly to allow for negotiation between the LCSPA and Riot. Riot has also lifted the location requirement to play in the LCS and has allowed the LCS teams to add players to their rosters, even though the roster-lock period is passed.
It looks like Riot is easily willing to get rid of LCS altogether. Naz Aletaha, global head of League of Legends esports, has said that “That is not an outcome we’d want, but it’s unfortunately the reality of ensuring we run a fair, competitive global system”.
The future of LCS will be determined in the upcoming two weeks.

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