Franchising in League of Legends – What We Know so Far

Riot Games have announced that the format of the NA LCS competition will be significantly changed starting with the 2018 season. The solution that Riot Games found for that competition is to introduce the franchise system of the competition which will be very similar to the competition in NBA, NHL, or MLS. Besides that, Blizzard has already adopted this system for their long awaited Overwatch League and it seems that franchise system is becoming more and more popular in the world of eSports.

Riot Games made that announcement a couple of months ago but not a lot has been revealed since then. In this piece, we will be looking at the information about this big change in the League of Legends competition and what is the response from the community to these announcements.

Organizations Express Their Approval

It is very interesting to see the response from the organizations when it comes to the introduction of franchises in the NA LCS competition. When Blizzard announced the franchise system for their Overwatch League, the response from the community was condemning mostly because of the prize that the Blizzard has set forth for the spot in that league.

On the other hand, the response from the League of Legends community on the franchise system of competition could not be any more different. Almost all organizations gladly accepted the idea about the new format of the competition. Besides that, every organization that currently competes in the NA LCS has already applied for the spot in the new league.

If that is not proof enough of the community gladly accepting the franchise system, it needs to be said that four other organizations that currently compete in the EU LCS have also applied for the spot in the new competition which is a clear indication that franchise system in League of Legends has already been well accepted.

The Economics behind the Franchise System

Riot Games has not revealed much information when it comes the economic aspect of the franchise system in NA LCS. According to some reports, especially the one from Bloomberg, the cost for an organization to have a spot in NA LCS will be $10 million. However, that amount is reserved only for the organizations that have already been a part of NA LCS before the introduction of franchises.

Those organizations who decide to join NA LCS will have to pay the different price for their spot. According to the same reports, the amount of money that they will have to spend is $3 million more than organizations that are already part of NA LCS. However, not that long ago, information appeared that new organization in NA LCS will not have to pay any additional amount. At this moment, nothing has been officially confirmed by Riot so we cannot say anything with certainty about this issue.

Besides that, players have not been that enthusiastic about the franchise system for League of Legends competitions. Additionally, it has been confirmed that only a few players have been involved in the negotiations about the new format of the competition and Riot has been criticized a lot for that move. Even though the new format will set the minimum salaries for the players, they have not been that welcoming towards this idea.