Opinion — League of Legends Esports must adapt or die

In the last two months, esports discourse across social media has tunneled on one particular topic — co-streaming. The debate centers around the cost-benefit of co-streamers and whether or not their continued dominance requires stricter broadcast guidelines and/or licensing fees. Integrating a third layer to the viewing experience has attracted more eyeballs, but suddenly it's killing the product? No. The product was already bleeding and co-streaming is simply applying pressure to the wound.

The era of co-streaming is an extension of the current digital landscape and prevalence of “react” content. Esports is rooted in livestream culture, the connection between the viewer, their favorite content creators, and the online communities that formed as a result. A historic organization like Team SoloMid was built around that culture, and despite their exit years ago, they still receive chants to this day.

Compare that to any modern-day Western team. Instead of building on what made gaming unique, the industry leaders saw dollar signs. They welcomed venture capital and vague ideals of professionalism with open arms, sacrificing the personal connection and raw authenticity that kickstarted everything. A circuit that emphasized the human journey and fostered organic storylines that served as the foundation to passionate fanbases was abandoned in the quest to become traditional sports.

If the only real draw now is to watch the best of the best (and for some, a bit of national pride), then the audience engagement and viewership habits will simply reflect that. The ecosystem decides the incentive structure for its participants and, in turn, the value proposition for the fans. Who are the faces of esports today? What are the biggest storylines for audiences to latch onto? The community jokes about how re-signing with T1 keeps everyone employed for a few more years, but what will happen when he does retire? When Marc “Caedrel” Lamont isn’t online, why does the LEC supposedly lose 100,000 viewers? Why does the health of the esports rest on a handful of individuals?

It is worth noting that there are theories to partially explain LoL Esports’ gradual decline in recent years, including but not limited to:

With that in mind, let's examine the effects of decisions made a decade ago to see what's going wrong today. It's true that economics were significant factors in some of the past choices made, but none of that matters if there will be nobody left to watch. What matters is finding a way to course-correct and return to what resonates with fans and makes the esports worth watching. Again.

In the inaugural years of LoL Esports, North America and Europe consisted of multiple concurrent open tournament circuits hosted by third-party tournament operators such as ESL, MLG, and IGN. That all changed in late 2012 when Riot Games announced the formation of the League of Legends Championship Series in both NA and EU.

Moving forward, the top 8 teams of NA and EU, respectively would instead be facing off weekly in a round-robin regular season, just like a traditional sports league. The top 6 teams advanced to the playoffs, while the remaining two had to defend their spot in a promotion/relegation tournament against the top semi-pro teams. There were two “splits” a year, and the top team(s) of each split would qualify for a mid-season international tournament or the World Championship, respectively.

The LCS was booming and showed no signs of slowing down. But underneath all that growth, the business of esports was still the wild west with an uncertain future. By 2016, the team owners of both regions came together to petition Riot to remove relegation and turn each LCS into a franchised league. They claimed the existence of relegation hampered their ability to generate revenue through sponsorships and that the Riot stipends to each team were not sufficient in covering operating costs.

Negotiations continued for months between Riot and the various team organizations, both endemics as well as newcomers. The publisher was under heavy pressure, especially with a shiny new free-to-play competitor with their own franchised esports league on the horizon (Overwatch League). By mid-2017, Riot confirmed the elimination of relegation for future seasons along with a $10 million buy-in fee. In return, franchise partners were promised economic and job security, along with revenue share from future league-wide sponsorships and media rights deals. Additionally, North American teams would be required to field fully-salaried academy teams in hopes of closing the gap with the top teams in the world long-term.

"Something that we're looking to do is to have [an academy] team going into the league next year. And I really think that's gonna elevate the competitiveness of the league. And if every team had that, it would make us a lot closer to the Koreans." - Andy “Reginald” Dinh on Riot Games, Immortals CEO, and TSM owner discuss $10 million buy-in for NA LCS permanent partnership, 2017-06-01

With all these large aspirations and hundreds of millions committed, the West would definitely overtake the East and reestablish itself on the global stage competitively, right? The NA LCS officially debuted in 2018 with ten partnered teams made up of familiar faces as well as new ones from other esports titles. Just a year later, the EU LCS completed its transition to franchising, coupled with an entire rebrand as the LEC. Both leagues saw massive success in their early years and led the charge for all the other major regions in the LoL Esports ecosystem to move to franchising models within three years. It can only go up from here!

Now it’s 2026 and the data is clear: Western domestic viewership is on track to hit its lowest point since franchising began. One could argue it’s part of the natural life cycle of a video game as people move on to other distractions. If that was true across the board, then why does LCK continue to grow?

The LCS peaked during the COVID lockdowns and has since failed to produce any competitive results or compelling narratives to retain their viewer base. Nobody was convinced the move to weekday broadcasts in 2023 was anything more than to make room for Riot’s new golden child (VALORANT), seeing that they share the same studio. Two years later, the LTA merger arrives and is immediately called for what it is: a thinly veiled attempt to leverage Brazilian viewers to save North America. Neither community had any prior connection to the other while being lumped together under the “Americas” banner. Unsurprisingly, Riot soon confirmed the return of both LCS and CBLOL on the day of the Summer Split Finals.

Looking across the Atlantic, the LEC can thank Ibai Llanos, Kamel “Kameto” Kebir, and Caedrel for bailing out the league with their personal fanbases — Ibai and Kamel also own LEC partner teams, and . However, the immediate boosts provided by newcomers are typically short-lived, never sticking past the split after they enter the fray. It’s clear that the inclusion of Los Ratones in LEC Versus is the latest example of this strategy and has achieved its desired effect on viewer numbers.

Many community members are quick to blame the decline of Western regions on the lack of personality from players and teams. The prevailing sentiment on social media is that players should just stream more, and orgs need to create more content highlighting the players. Then all is well! Alternatively, the explanation may be much simpler for the majority of League of Legends fans: regional interest is tied to international success.

South Korea has been accepted as the strongest region in the world since 2013. In that time frame, a Korean team has won ten out of 13 World Championships. Both teams and individual players from overseas either practice on the Korean server or fly to Korea to bootcamp. It’s then, no surprise, the LCK serves as the pinnacle of domestic competition and draws the most eyes globally. A regular season match between and will always be huge, as it serves as a preview to an MSI or Worlds grand finals match. What are the odds that the “lost” viewers in the West didn’t stop consuming League but merely diverted their attention elsewhere?

By 2027, League will be one of, if not the only, esports remaining to operate closed-circuit leagues on a global scale. How have the various franchise partners performed in seven-eight years since the transition to such a model?

While the perennial winners spend to keep winning, those at the bottom quickly realize the only way to stay afloat is to build the cheapest possible rosters, all in the name of "talent development.” This becomes a vicious cycle as those same lower-ranked teams struggle to attract good players and rebuild. How many more years of tanking until these supposed long-term projects come to fruition?

As the divide grows, paired with the arrival of “Esports Winter” in late 2022, organizations feel the effects of stagnation or dwindling interest across the League ecosystem. Logically, the next step is to downsize the investment in League of Legends in favor of more lucrative and exciting opportunities (VALORANT).

In the current system, it is nigh impossible for perpetually bottom-tier teams and their players within a region to establish meaningful narratives that larger audiences will care about. The same argument could be applied between the various major regions when comparing the health of each one today. Naturally, fandom consolidates toward the best teams, the best region(s), or individual superstars that fall outside of the first two. There has been little reason to follow the likes of Team Dignitas and SK Gaming beyond nostalgia as legacy orgs. And yet, they not only occupy a finite number of spots in the Tier 1 ecosystem but also half the broadcast hours and matches being streamed. It should be expected for viewers to pass and wait until the best and/or their favorite teams are playing to tune in.

While franchising widens the gap from within, region-locking has only widened the gap between the regions themselves. It’s been long established that Korea and then China are the most dominant regions in League of Legends, to the point that any hope of any other team winning Worlds is all but zero. Against all odds, a few outliers did emerge in the West throughout history. But these underdog stories did not have a happy ending, with most of these hero teams falling just short of the finish line. They typically were unchallenged domestically but because most of their matches are against those cheap rosters, their potential is left unrealized.

In the last two years, those heroes were and . During that time, both teams won the majority of possible trophies in their respective regions while placing no lower than third overall. While dominant teams are nothing new, both stood up to eastern teams in ways that have not been seen since 2019 G2. The LCS representative took both Gen.G and to five games at both Worlds 2024 and MSI 2025, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kings of LEC defeated Top Esports 3-0 at MSI 2024 and Bilibili Gaming 2-1 to qualify for the Knockout Stage of Worlds 2025. The best of the West showed signs of life, but neither has been able to cross the finish line.

In contrast to LoL, professional Counter-Strike is an open circuit of exclusively international tournaments at the Tier 1 level. Teams are rated by a continuous global ranking system called Valve Regional Standings, similar to the ELO system in professional chess. While many begin their journey in local or regional tournaments, those who consistently win will quickly climb the ranks and earn their way into top level competitions. One such team broke out in 2023: The MongolZ.

Hailing from Mongolia, a relatively unstoried region in Counter-Strike, they started from the bottom but didn’t stay there for long. Within two weeks under The Mongolz banner, they qualified for CS’ equivalent of the world championship, the Major, through their regional open qualifier. Two years and forty-five tournaments later, they saw the fruits of their labor by reaching the finals of the BLAST Austin Major. Even though The MongolZ didn’t win that day, they have since maintained a top-10 world ranking. Their rise to the top was possible, in part, due to the frequent access to stronger competition, often playing against top teams in the world.

Had FlyQuest and G2 been afforded the opportunities to constantly train against the best of the best, would they have reached top 4 at Worlds? Maybe. Nothing is guaranteed. But I'd wager the team would have improved from facing teams like and year-round, instead of and . No disrespect. In a world where FLY and/or G2 make the leap and become world-beaters, many Western viewers might have returned to see their home teams truly contend with the East.

Unlike League, Counter-Strike esports features monthly international tournaments, all of which cap off in a stadium. While most other contemporaries have opened their circuits, almost all of them utilize a streamlined regional to international tournament cycle with only three stadium events a year globally.

During the early 2020s, the two biggest CS:GO tournament operators — ESL and BLAST — signed most of Tier 1 into partner team agreements. In exchange for revenue share and guaranteed invites to their respective non-Major events, the TOs barred teams from attending tournaments hosted by their competitors. Besides fracturing the competitive scene, the war for market share shut out teams who were either repeatedly outperforming partner orgs or up-and-comers looking to break into the upper echelons. The industry looked to see how Valve would respond.

With Valve putting its foot down and saying no to franchising in any form, the path to pro officially became accessible to everyone. Instead of grinding out Tier 2-3 in hopes of getting recruited by a partner or franchise org, aspiring players and teams now earn their way into top-level events. Aside from the aforementioned MongolZ, countless new faces have slowly made their way into relevance.

One recent headline was Fisher College, an officially recognized varsity team based in the Northeastern United States. They punched their ticket to PGL Astana via the North American open qualifier. Before their qualifying match, the team was ranked #131 globally and had risen to #96 at the time of writing. To replicate this success in LoL, it would have taken at least twice the time with a fraction of the opportunities (all while spending millions to buy into the league). But thanks to the open circuit, Fisher put themselves on the map for curious onlookers waiting to see what a collegiate team can achieve on the global stage.

Moving back over to Riot Games, their own tactical FPS kicked off its esports with the VALORANT Champions Tour. Its first two years featured a tournament circuit with each region hosting online open qualifiers to send teams to two “Masters” and a world championship called “Champions” each year. By the end of 2022, Riot revealed its partner teams for a new regional league format. While cosmetically similar to League’s franchise leagues, the main differences were that VCT partners did not pay a buy-in fee, and two out of twelve spots were reserved for promoted “guest” teams. These partnership agreements also had expiration dates, namely after the 2026 season.

Despite the initial boom post-partnership, domestic viewership has fizzled out faster than their League counterparts. History tells us that more of the same would only lead VALORANT down the same path as League. But in a surprising turn of events, Riot earlier this year announced a systematic revert to their initial days, followed by a new slogan: “Everything is a tournament.”

Instead of a closed circuit with long regular seasons, every tournament will start with open qualifiers. While partner teams will still exist to earn revenue share, they will all have to earn their spots at regional and international events alongside everyone else. While not a proper open tournament circuit like Counter-Strike, the VCT model is a massive improvement and indicates Riot’s willingness to course-correct back to the grassroots vision that built esports in the first place.

One might ask, is this a preview of League’s future? Surely, Riot is actively exploring how to adapt the model for LoL Esports. But, there's a large, gray mammal with two tusks in the room that nobody wants to address — the franchising agreements.

"Currently, we don't plan to move away from our long-term partnership model with the teams...we would consider [it] in the future, but not moving away from our primary long-term model with teams." - LEC Commissioner Artem Bykov, Jankos: I CONFRONTED THE LEC COMMISSIONER, 2026-05-04

With no official confirmation, the most recent estimates placed an LEC franchise slot at a €20 million (~$23.5 million) valuation. LCK and LPL are expected to be in the same ballpark, while LCS could be as low as 1/5th of that. Regardless, any ecosystem overhaul would likely require buybacks of all the slots, depending on the contract wording surrounding guaranteed participation in events. That would cost Riot hundreds of millions.

In late 2025, Karmine Corp owner Kameto revealed on stream that Riot had moved forward with the 2026 LEC Versus format against the wishes of the franchise owners. This format included the two best Tier 2 teams. That made sense, considering Caedrel's team, Los Ratones, was one of the most popular teams in the world and was jailed in the academy leagues. Their addition was justified on the grounds of integrating Tier 2 and giving extra incentives to the winners of the “EMEA Masters” which was why Karmine Corp’s academy team was also invited.

Obvious conflict of interest issues aside, there are legitimate concerns regarding the ulterior motives behind such changes. First and foremost, including two teams outside the LEC circuit could devalue the franchise slots. The existing owners invested millions for a seat at the table and have every right to be concerned about their future. LR’s inclusion would be so well-received that it would push community sentiment enough to eventually convince owners to accept lower buyouts in order to open the circuit.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that LoL Esports has become stale to general audiences. The format disincentivizes watching most official matches. Organic and compelling narratives are sacrificed for economic security. How can there be conversations about monetizing fans when they do not care to watch and engage for free?

For all the time and money dedicated to this space, the community deserves more than continued mediocrity. Riot can look in their own backyard to see the writing on the wall. The future is open. A true open circuit model like Counter-Strike would be the most interesting to see play out, but somehow finding a way to adapt the VCT 2027 format is the most realistic hope. While detangling the current system is an unenviable task, to maintain the status quo is to become the next Starcraft II. How’s that doing nowadays?

Thankfully, on the game dev side, Riot is rediscovering the importance of grassroots through their "Organized Play" initiatives. In March, local event organizers were able to apply for boxes containing physical merchandise as well as in-game items to bolster small-scale events. Similar programs previously existed at the scholastic and collegiate level throughout the 2010s, coinciding with League's peak cultural relevance among the under-25 crowd. Whether that can save League of Legends and LoL Esports in the west, only time can tell. But I’ll probably find out from Caedrel’s TikTok.