Recently, Riot Games, the creators of the game League of Legends, selected 10 teams for the permanent partnership structure of the North American League Championship Series (LCS).
The pro eSports league previously operated under a relegation system, in which teams that weren’t performing well would be put through a series of games against teams from lower series. There the teams would fight for their spot in the LCS.
Now they are operating under a franchise model that requires payments to stay in the LCS. “The franchise model is intended to promote more stability in the league, to encourage teams to invest over the long term,” said Jarred Kennedy, Riot Games’ co-head of eSports.
By introducing this model it will allow fans of teams to enjoy watching their favorite team. Before fans had to worry about their favorite team not being in the LCS after that season.
The 10 teams have paid 10 million dollars each for a franchise-fee payment to Riot Games. In addition, the four new NA LCS teams are putting in another 3 million dollars apiece, to provide a “parachute payment” to the teams that no longer are a part of the LCS going forward.
The teams that been granted franchises for the NA LCS include 100 Thieves, Clutch Gaming, Golden Guardians, OpTic Gaming, FlyQuest, Team SoloMid, Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, Echo Fox and Team Liquid.
Along with the teams that were previously in the LCS there are four teams that are backed by NBA teams: FlyQuest, Clutch Gaming, 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians. Kirk Lacob, VP of the Golden State Warriors’ GSW Sports Ventures, said, “We are approaching our membership in this elite eSports community with respect and admiration – it’s our hope to bring our championship-sports roots to our new playing field and contribute to growing the league on a global level.”
The community hopes that these teams will shed some light on eSports and allow the community to grow. With the addition of this new franchising model and these new teams, the LCS will become a better experience for fans and players.
