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All news: LCS LoL: North American League of Legends Championship Series

More about LCS

The LCS, also known as the LoL Championship Series, is the League of Legends title tournament series run by Riot Games for North American teams. The first esports events in North America under the auspices of the LCS began to take place in 2013. As of 2018, the LCS switched to a franchise league format. Teams from the LCS receive direct seats in Worlds tournaments on par with South Korea, China and Europe.

18.12.22

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Riot Games intends to terminate the LCS deal with FTX through the court

The publisher is about to end its partnership with the FTX exchange, which has reportedly caused irreparable "reputational damage".

18.12.22

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The LCS first appeared in 2014, but before that, the Riot Season 3 NA Championship Series took place, which can be safely called the progenitor of the series. Under the auspices of the LCS itself, the tournament began to be held in 2014, but with a slight amendment.

NA LCS (2014-2018)

With the creation of the League of Legends esports environment in North America, Riot Games has outlined plans for the future in other regions. It was NA LCS, which later got rid of the NA prefix, that became the standard in terms of Riot's approach to the formation of competitiveness.

In the first season of 2014, Riot Games outlined the format for holding esports events in League of Legends. Until 2018, they will receive minimal changes.

NA LCS format

The league is divided into two splits: Spring NA LCS and Summer NA LCS
8 teams participate in each split
LCS participants play each other in a round robin format, where over 10 weeks of competition they meet each other 4 times
The splits are divided into two stages: the group stage and the playoffs.
The top 6 teams from the group stage advance to the playoffs.
A special Promotion tournament is played between splits, where the participants of the next roster are determined

Already in the second season of NA LCS, that is, in 2015, the number of participants increased to 10. The format remained untouched even further. Only the time of the league was reduced, which now lasted 9 weeks.

Global changes awaited the North American League of Legends in 2017, when the announcement of the transition of the LSC to a new model of holding took place.

Updated LCS format

The announcement of the transfer of the LCS to a franchise model happened in June 2017. The first tournament under the new rules for players and clubs took place in 2019 and received a simplified name without the prefix NA - the championship was called LCS Spring 2019.

10 teams still participated in the tournament, but now the list of participants was known in advance. Teams had to apply for the opportunity to become an LCS partner, which carried a lot of bonuses.

The principle of income sharing

One of the main levers of attraction to the LCS was the income distribution model used in big sports, it gave guarantees to the participants in the competition.

LCS partners were entitled to 32.5% of franchise revenue. Half of the amount was distributed equally among the participants, and the other half was divided depending on the “impact” of the organization: the place where the team ended the season played a role, how many spectators it attracted, and so on.

The minimum wage for players has changed. Now the lower limit was $75,000 per year, which is 15 higher than in Europe, although this did not stop some teams from the LEC from applying for participation in the LCS.

Players Association

In the pursuit of high standards in the esports industry, Riot has formed a player association for LCS members. The organization acts as an intermediary in negotiations between Riot, clubs and players.

This mechanism helps LCS players to be more confident in the future and plan their careers in advance.

Slot cost in LCS

A place in the LCS, like any other franchise league, is paid. If a club lives up to Riot's standards and is willing to make America's League of Legends great again, there will be a price to pay.

The fee for participation in the LCS is 10 million dollars.

Members of the LCS

The first iteration of LCS partners included almost all the top clubs in North America with League of Legends rosters. Among them: 100Thieves, Cloud9, Clutch Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming, Echo Fox, FlyQuest, Golden Guardians, OpTic Gaming, Team Liquid, TSM.

Over time, the pool of LCS participants has changed, but not drastically. For 2023, LCS partners are: 100 Thieves, Cloud9, CLG, Dignitas, Evil Geniuses, FlyQuest, Golden Guardians, Immortals, Team Liquid and TSM.

Best LCS Team

Cloud9 remains the most titled LCS team in the history of the League. Oblaka participated in all LCS tournaments and played at the world championships, where they reached high places several times.