Riot Games, LCS Players Association Come to Agreement on NACL

Credit: Riot Games/LCSPA

Riot Games, the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), and the LCS Players Association (LCSPA) announced Thursday evening that all parties have come to an agreement to get players back to work and start competition for the LCS Summer Split.

A reformatted LCS Summer Split regular season will begin on June 14, and will take place over six weeks, with matches being played :Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays starting at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET at the Riot Games Arena.”

As for the agreement that was reach, all parties agreed to create a new NACL business model that includes the previously committed $300K at the end of May, and “shares revenue between the tournament operator and participating teams to drive towards long-term sustainability.” The terms are:

• A new NACL business model, in addition to the previously committed $300,000, that shares revenue between the tournament operator and participating teams to drive towards long-term sustainability
• Improvements to the NACL governance model, including a Team Participating Agreement (TPA) and vetting process of the participating team organizations
• Minimum 30-day notice and severance requirement for players earning up to 1.5 times the league minimum salary and minimum two-week termination notice for non-resident LCS players (players and teams are free to negotiate terms over-and-above this)
• Creation of a working group between teams and the LCSPA to better optimize scrim schedules
• Reinforcement of healthcare insurance requirements for international LCS players when they arrive in the U.S.
• Refinement of working procedures between the LCS, LCSPA, and teams to continue conversations around the improvement of the competitive landscape in North America

All of this began on May 28, when the LCSPA held a vote for LCS players who decided overwhelmingly to stage a walkout at the start of the Summer Split (June 4) in protest over Riot Games’ decision to allow franchised teams to abandon their North American Challenger League (NACL) teams, or academy teams.

Prior to this policy change from Riot, franchised teams were given a stipend (around $2M USD) and a portion of it was to be used to field an NACL team. With that requirement removed, a majority of franchised teams (seven out of the 10) announced that they would not continue to operate an NACL team.

Following that vote,  the LCSPA  issued a list of demands, but on May 30, a statement from Riot Games Global Head of Esports Naz Aletaha rejected those demands point-by-point, and also announced that the company would delay the start of the summer competition for two weeks to give teams, players, the players association, and Riot time to negotiate some sort of compromise.