Image credit: LoL Esports
The LCS will be heading to Worlds 2023 after all.
After a long week full of doubt and uncertainty, the LCS will be heading to Worlds 2023 after the LCS Player Association (LCSPA) and Riot Games agreed to terms after the recent player strike regarding the future of the North American Challengers League (NACL).
With that now settled, the LCS Summer Split can finally begin and it will start next Wednesday, 14 June and will run its course until 20 August. This comes after Riot announced a two-week delay of the LCS Summer Split once it was revealed that close to 90 per cent of the players chose to stage a walkout.
Riot would go on to say that it will work closely with the LCSPA in negotiations about the NACL but if an agreement could not be met, the LCS Summer Split would've been cancelled entirely and the LCS as a whole will miss out on attending Worlds 2023.
And while the LCS Summer Split will still go on without any more delays, there will be some changes to the scheduling of the matches. Games will now be played three times a week, starting every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 1.00 pm CST, instead of the usual Thursdays and Fridays.
According to the LCSPA, talks will still continue on the unresolved issues, to which one can speculate there to be many. However, both parties did come to terms on some conditions, which are detailed down below:
- 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
While there are still some ways to go until the NACL and Riot can see eye-to-eye, it is the first of many steps in the right direction to introducing a better gateway for players to move up the ranks of the LCS. The current 10 LCS teams will also have to find a way to make it work with the NACL, of which only three remain with active Challenger rosters.
The start date of the LCS Summer Split is already confirmed but the schedule has yet to be finalised. Expect more news regarding the LCS in the coming days.
