EU LCS changes don’t seem like the right answer
There is a new format coming to League of Legends EU LCS Esports scene this spring, but is anyone excited for it?
Earlier this year, Riot Games announced a new and exciting format for the League of Legends North American Championship Series (NA LCS). Now there has been another announcement concerning its European counterpart, the European League Championship Series (EULCS), but it feels more reactionary and doesn’t seem to be answering any of the concerns regarding the EU LCS.
The most exciting news for the NA LCS was that Riot Games would share revenue with the organizations buying in. This creates a lot more wealth in the team, like TSM or Phoenix1, and for the professional players as well. This can only help to grow the organizations. This has not been announced for EULCS.
Revenue sharing seems to be the biggest point of contention regarding the EU LCS. This gives North American teams a lot more buying power for players. It makes the region a lot more attractive for European talent to go across the pond to greener pastures. Considering some of the greatest talents in the NA LCS are imported from Europe (such as Bjergsen, Jensen, and Froggen) this is a very legitimate concern.
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Instead, Riot Games is splitting Europe into four regions and filling each region with four teams. Some teams have already chosen their cities.
With six teams per city, that comes out to 24 teams in the EU LCS. I’m not quite sure what this is addressing or why they are doing it. Concerns with this are that it will water down the competition and make EU LCS less interesting to watch. Not even the 10 teams in the EU LCS are competitive on the highest level, looking for 24 teams to be that good is asking a lot.
So What’s the Goal?
At this point, it is hard to say what Riot Games is looking to do in Europe with professional League of Legends. While some hope that this division will create more local viewers and inspire local sponsors to back these organizations but it doesn’t seem likely. With the two biggest name teams going to London, odds are most viewers will follow which leaves the rest of the leagues with the scraps. This would leave them drastically less profitable and would only widen the financial disparity between NA and EU.