“If Riot wants to buy our franchise slot back, we’re willing to discuss,” said
Alban Dechelotte, G2 Esports’ Chief Executive Officer,
in an interview with L’Équipe, becoming the first LEC franchised partner to speak openly on the league’s model. At a time of mounting uncertainty, his statement stands out in a season where the LEC’s direction has been anything but predictable.
For better or worse, the
League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) has taken a sharp turn this year, notably following the
controversial rework of the LEC Versus, which paved the way for new competitors like Los Ratones and Karmine Corp Blue to compete without owning a franchise slot. Amid growing discontent with the status quo, calls for a way out of franchising, and franchise owners openly
contesting recent decisions, future changes now appear inevitable — leaving the question: what will Riot’s next move be?
G2 proposes a way out of franchising
“Riot is on a massive clock. They’ll need to do something sooner or later. They’ve been too slow at making changes, considering how fast the world moves,” were the words of Nemesis
(Tim Lipovšek), midlaner of Los Ratones, earlier this month — a statement that resonated across the wider esports community. Despite thirteen years of activity and nearly eight years of franchising, the introduction of LEC Versus has made waves that one might think Riot Games
did not anticipate.
“Not a single person agreed with this idea. It’s crazy to do something like that without anyone being able to say or do anything. What they wanted to do initially was even worse,” commented Kameto
(Kamel Kebir
) last October. Indeed, the initial changes to LEC Versus sent ripples throughout the entire scene, leading to sharply contrasting points of view while raising an important concern: why should teams be allowed to compete in the LEC without paying for a slot, while others may have paid millions of euros to be there?
Today, Alban Dechelotte is
ready to engage in discussions to find common ground:
“We, like the nine other teams, still have a franchise contract. I was very direct with Riot: if you want to buy them back, we’re willing to discuss it. We can even negotiate the price. If that’s a key step for them to kick off a new investment cycle and do what they want for the game and for the sport, I’m open to the conversation.”What may come of it, only time will tell, though further comments from the CEO may indicate that Riot Games have previously explored the idea of compensating owners in the event of a potential league expansion: “In the past, we were offered the possibility of opening two additional spots in the LEC; we voted against it by an overwhelming majority, even though we would have received a lot of money.”
For now, the league moves onward, and the Rats now sit on the sidelines as their temporary, one-split appearance comes to an end after
failing to reach the LEC Versus playoffs. Nonetheless, though no longer actively present, Los Ratones have left a mark on the LEC that will not fade easily and may change the very core of the league for years to come.
