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[jwhit28]

From ESPN

Riot Games, developer and publisher of League of Legends, has revealed details regarding its new franchising model for the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). This includes an application process for teams, revenue sharing, a players' association and a retooling of the Challenger scene into the Academy League.

Bloomberg reports that franchises will cost a flat $10 million for existing NA LCS organizations, with newcomers required to pay an extra $3 million to compensate teams not selected to the group of 10 for the 2018 season. Franchises will have the option to pay this fee over time, with the potential for some of the cost to be waived based on the league hitting financial goals over the next few years.

This also means no more relegation and a reorganization of the Challenger Series.

Teams will no longer have to worry about relegation. Currently, the LCS works on a relegation system in which the bottom two teams at the end of the spring and summer split must fight for their spot via a promotion tournament, fending off up-and-coming teams from the Challenger Series. With the abolishment of the Challenger Series, the 10 teams that are franchised will be able to field an Academy League team, which Riot hopes will meet a variety of needs to pro teams, such as housing deeper rosters to encourage faster development of younger players.

"Removing the uncertainty around relegation will enable teams to be able to better plan for their future, and to make long term bets and investments in the league," Riot said in its release.

 

[kayos90]

That is not bad at all. My hope is that this doesn't put teams in a situation to just lax but be more competitive.

 

[Leezard]

That's a big step for both the NA league scene and for esports in general.

That is not bad at all. My hope is that this doesn't put teams in a situation to just lax but be more competitive.

Considering the revenue sharing is based on performance and there are penalties for long term terrible performance, that should hopefully be avoided.

 

[jwhit28]

That is not bad at all. My hope is that this doesn't put teams in a situation to just lax but be more competitive.

They tried to address that.

Removing relegation, however, might disincentivize teams from performing at peak levels knowing they can't be dropped to Challenger. To mitigate this, Riot will give financial incentives for good performance and will disqualify teams that finish ninth or 10th five times over an eight-split span (four years).

 

[Nirolak]

That is not bad at all. My hope is that this doesn't put teams in a situation to just lax but be more competitive.

You can still get booted if you're perpetually bad.

 

[kayos90]

You can still get booted if you're perpetually bad.

Yes but the penalty is fairly lenient