Riot Games‘ premier North American League of Legends competition, the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS), has undergone a minor rebranding – it’s now solely known as the LCS.
The news came from a tweet, revealing the new name and a slightly-renovated logo alongside the competition’s January 26th, 2019 return date.
From NA LCS to LCS:
The 2019 #LCS Spring Split begins on January 26, 2018! pic.twitter.com/OjJUT7CCcF
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) December 13, 2018
The NA LCS was launched when the Riot Season 3 Championship Series incorporated the first season of North America’s first professional LoL league. It saw eight teams compete in a round robin format, with the top teams reaching an offline playoff stage.
This isn’t the biggest change the NA LCS has ever seen. On June 1st, 2017, Riot Games announced that major changes were coming to the league for the 2018 season in the form of franchising. This meant permanent partners would join the league, having been selected from an application process with no fear of relegation. This change also included the implementation of a revenue-sharing process between each of the 10 teams and Riot Games, made up of revenues generated from media deals, team-branded goods, sponsorships, and merchandise.
The EU LCS rebranded to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) this November, alongside the announcement of the competition’s first ever franchise partners. Following in the footsteps of the NA LCS, it opened up 10 slots for organisations and investors to apply for – giving them long-term stability in the league should they be successful. The European league kicks off on January 18th.
Esports Insider says: Now the EU LCS is known as the LEC, it mostly makes sense to drop the ‘NA’ portion of the competition’s name. The rebranding of the two leagues represents more of a separation between them – whether that’s an intentional move or not by Riot Games – but there’s a no doubt that the rivalry between the two regions will remain.
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