Teams and sponsors approve of ‘League of Legends’ esports ecosystem changes

As of Tuesday, June 11, Riot Games is combining several of its “League of Legends” leagues across Asia and the Americas. So far, most stakeholders in Riot’s esports ecosystem appear to approve of the change, despite the potential for conflicts between regional sponsors.

The updates to Riot’s “League of Legends” ecosystem were announced by Riot esports head John Needham during a “Dev Update” posted to the official “League of Legends” YouTube channel on June 11. The biggest change was the consolidation of Riot’s “League of Legends” leagues in the Americas — the North American LCS, the Latin American LLA and the Brazilian CBLOL league — under a single umbrella.

The new league, so far left unnamed, will be split into North and South regional conferences. Each conference will consist of eight teams, with the LCS contributing six teams to the North conference and CBLOL contributing six teams to the South conference. For each conference, the remaining two team slots will be filled by one team from Latin America and one team from the second tier of “League of Legends” esports, determined via a promotion and relegation system.

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