"We don't plan to move away from our long-term partnership model with the teams" LEC Commissioner on a potential opening of the league

Last Monday, May 4, LEC Commissioner Artem Bykov gave a live interview to streamer and former professional player Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, during which the two discussed the LEC and its format at length, roadshows and their potential expansion to other countries, the Spring Split schedule, as well as co-streaming.

One of the topics that comes up the most whenever the LEC is mentioned is a potential opening of the league. This is currently the case in the LCP (Pacific) and the LCS (North America) with Guest Slots, but according to the LEC Commissioner, it is not something that should happen in EMEA: “Currently we don't plan to move away from our long-term partnership model with the teams.”

However, Riot and the LEC remain open to more crossover competition between ERL and LEC teams following the positive reception to LEC Versus, but also after and ’s victories over LEC teams during the Esports World Cup EMEA Qualifier: “We would consider [it] in the future, but not moving away from our primarily long-term model with teams.“

Bykov and Jankos also revisited the question of format, particularly the possibility of seeing BO1 return in the regular season: “I wouldn't say that BO1 will never come back again.” The league representative also pointed out that time is limited during the Winter Split before First Stand, which does not allow for a more developed format.

Regarding the distribution of games during this Spring Split and the overall schedule, particularly criticized during this Spring Split due to significant disparities between the teams, Artem Bykov admitted there were some issues: “We underestimated the exact impact of how all the little tweaks worked out. That’s something we are looking to change for 2027.”

A large part of the interview focused on road trips, a feature that Riot and the LEC are increasingly developing, with five road trips planned this year, exclusively in Spain and France around and , which Bykov described as the biggest markets at the moment. He also highlighted that this initiative is driven by the teams themselves.

He further explained that roadshows outside of France, Spain, and Germany are being considered: “If I had no limitations… I would love a world where each LEC team does a road trip across EMEA.” He also confirmed that organizing teams themselves decide which opponents are invited to road trips in order to build the storylines they want.

Finally, they also discussed co-streaming, with Jankos himself being a LEC co-streamer, as Riot reaffirmed its commitment to this model of broadcast: “Co-streaming continues to be a big part of the LEC strategy”, also confirming that co-streaming is not limited to team-affiliated streamers.