Game developer Riot Games has revealed major updates to its tier-two League of Legends (LoL) structure for its new Americas League.
The changes include restructured Latin American leagues as well as details surrounding its one-year guest slot in the tier-one Americas League.
In June, League of Legends’ developer announced its intentions to merge the tier-one Americas leagues LCS, CBLOL and LLA to establish a pan-Americas circuit for 2025, operating under a two-conference model. The final LCS split concluded this month with promising viewership.
Similarly, the new tier-two system will feature two conferences with two leagues each. North America and Brazil will continue with their existing NACL and CBLOL Academy competitions, respectively.
However, Latin America’s existing qualifiers will be transformed into fully-fledged tier 2 leagues, called LRN (Liga Regional Norte) and LRS (Liga Regional Sur). The two conferences will be called North (NACL and LRN) and South (CBLOL Academy and LRS).
All four leagues will use a two-split format running alongside the tier-one Split two and three. The leagues will also receive dedicated qualifiers to ensure an open ecosystem. Moreover, every Americas tier-two first split will feature the Full Fearless format, prohibiting teams from picking the same champions as in their previous match of a series.
The competitive season will culminate in a tier-one Promotion Tournament, where the top two tier-two teams from each regional league will face the Guest Team from each tier-one conference. The winners will be rewarded with a slot in the tier-one Americas league and the opportunity to qualify for international events, such as the Worlds Championship. Furthermore, promoted teams will adopt a business model comparable to that of partner teams.
The full schedule of the 2025 tier 2 season will be released at a later date.
Looking forward, Riot plans to work towards integrating additional elements into the tier-two ecosystem, such as tier-one Sister Teams and Collegiate Teams, as well as the Americas Challengers Tournament. This first pan-Americas League sees six tier-two teams compete for a $75,000 (~£56,000) prize pool.
