LEC player union reacts to 2023 schedule

Big things are in store for the LEC and the entire EMEA region, and fans are more than ready for it. A few days ago Riot released a statement claiming that the EMEA region would broadcast competitive League of Legends every day of the week. But not all parties are excited about the format changes, and it’s obvious why.

LEC and EMEA Broadcast Update

For the past few years, most of the LEC competition has been going on during the weekends. A 5 pm start in the European time zones worked well for everyone. People could enjoy some competitive League of Legends after work or school and before going out. Meanwhile, the LCS didn’t start until the LEC finished so there was never an overlap. But the LEC is trying a different approach for the upcoming 2023 season. With Valorant franchising ongoing and the game gaining traction, suddenly there is a lot more competition. While the MOBA and FPS communities don’t necessarily overlap, Riot’s resources and facilities do. 

Introducing the new era of competition in EMEA! #EMEA23

▶️ https://t.co/zg9oLx4gm1 pic.twitter.com/9j10vVuh8D

— LEC (@LEC) November 18, 2022

Fueled by the constant dip in success on the international stage, Riot knew something needed to change. For the LEC, it meant uniting the region into one big ecosystem. The new EMEA region will include more leagues, draw more fans, and hopefully generate interest. But with those format changes, scheduling was also due for a rework. Western teams have consistently fallen behind their peers from the eastern regions. And one of the main reasons for that was the lack of competition. With the LEC and LCS competing in the best of one format, they were naturally going to fall behind. We already covered how the new EMEA format is going to work out, and recently, we got the schedule released. 

#LEC returns January 21!

Check out your schedule for the first two weeks of the Winter Split 👇 pic.twitter.com/ugTXTHnqUB

— LEC (@LEC) December 15, 2022

LEC Winter schedule released

Moving forward, LEC competition will play out on 3 days each week. In the previous format we had games on Friday and Saturday, with an occasional Sunday broadcast during super weeks. But now the third day of LEC games will always be guaranteed. The games will be broadcast on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with Friday being included during the Split playoffs. What’s even better is that the newly announced Winter Split is kicking off on January 21. Shorter and more action-packed splits are just what the region needed. The Winter Split Playoffs are scheduled a month later, on February 20, with the Finals happening on February 26. It’s important to note that winning a single split won’t give you the title of LEC champion. Since there are three splits, winning one of them would only grant you more championship points. The team that wins the Grand Finals after the Summer Split will be crowned LEC Champion of 2023. 

2023 LEC Finals location

Speaking of those LEC Finals, we got some insight into them. Notable community member and freelance esports journalist, LEC Wooloo, recently tweeted that Riot has made a decision. Per his reports and sources, it would appear that Riot has chosen the city of Montpellier in France, as the host of the 2023 LEC Finals. This is great news, as Riot seems to be moving away from capital cities. It started becoming stale with every LEC event being held in Paris, Berlin, or London. On the other hand, French fans, which are some of the most passionate ones when it comes to League, just got a huge win. The broadcast in the arena will be in French, which might be awkward for foreigners. But the atmosphere will certainly be electrifying, even more, if there is a French team competing. 

Some LEC teams objected 

But not everyone is looking forward to the 2023 LEC season. Most of the fans and players would agree that more games are better. For everyone included. Fans get more entertainment, players get a lot more experience and practice, and teams get more money from sponsors. But with the recent format changes, those numbers won’t be equal for everyone. The format states that the bottom two teams after the first 3 weeks would be disqualified for the rest of the split. With best of three and best of five series following in the following three weeks, that’s a lot of screen time being lost. 

Which is only fair and should be the case, considering there are 2-3 LEC teams each year that don’t try to win. Promoting young players from the ERLs and signing journeyman veterans is not a recipe for success. But those teams are banking on organizations like Karmine Corp dishing out $50 million for their LEC slot. Meanwhile, they get their percentage of viewership revenue from the LEC without actually spending money.  Focusing on profits rather than winning has watered down competition, but that won’t be the case moving forward. 

To have BO2 or BO3 or anything except BO1 cause there was just too much dead time in the middle and wasn't competitive enough. There was always gonna be teams who are against it but honestly big props to Riot for setting it up and listening to us 2/2

— Andrei Pascu (@Odoamne) December 17, 2022

LEC player union steps in

That’s because the LEC player union stepped in. Led by former Rogue and current Excel top laner Odoamne, the union forced an agreement. Odoamne, who is one of the oldest and most respected LEC players, used his position of power to rally the players. This was fairly easy to do since he and most of the LEC players were represented by the same agent. That guy is Richard ‘Rich’ Wells, the founder of H2K, one of the earliest LEC teams which sadly does not exist anymore. Players like Odoamne and Jankos started their careers there, and are represented by his Black Lodge Esports agency. If there ever was a time to intervene and prevent greedy decisions, this was the time. And thanks to this initiative, the LEC will be a much better product in 2023. 

Header: Riot Games