of LCK
five times more viewers abroad than in Korea,
with many fans around the globe staying up all
night to catch the action.
LCK, world’s greatest LoL league appearing at
six LoL World Championship Finals
and winning five of them,
in only nine years of Worlds history.
a dominant force to be reckoned with.
But this is all in the past. Now we must prepare for
the next step as a challenger.
We have thought long and hard about
what the future of LCK should look like.
We have concluded that LCK must be a stage where
players, teams, and fans can fulfill their dreams
not only for a short period, but for generations.
We will adopt the Long-term partnership model
in LCK in 2021.
And we will bring back the glory.
the 2020 LCK Spring Split, and the
promotion and relegation system
will no longer take place afterwards.
In 2021, we plan to implement the Long-term partnership model
in LCK to create an environment where fans, players,
and
teams can form a long-term relationship.
With this change, we plan to strengthen LCK’s competency
and ultimately create
a more satisfying experience
for all participants of the league.
partnership model?
In the Long-term partnership model,
the league and teams become partners
to form a shared entity that makes the
decisions
about the league together and
shares its revenue.
Teams that join the league do not
get relegated and
remain as a
participant of LCK.
much stronger and stable teams
through league revenue sharing,
business investments,
and long-term sponsorships
impediment to
fundraising and revenue generation
: the possibility of relegation.
Teams will be able to manage their businesses with a long-term
perspective,
growing in various areas such as merchandising
and sponsorship.
By attracting more investment and generating greater
revenues,
teams will become more competitive, enhance their
performance,
and expand the fanbase, which in turn leads to a
greater investment and starts a virtuous cycle.
they become a part
of the Long-term partnership system.
This will add to the team’s financial stability,
and the additional
resources will be reinvested towards players and fans for
a better experience for everyone.
environment to focus on their games,
and enjoy greater stability in their
careers
that can help improve players’ performance. They will also take
players
as long-term partners and develop new systems to
forge stronger relationships with them.
We expect to witness an iconic star be born in every team in the
future.
any other professional sports league in Korea - 60 million KRW -
to ensure that our players enjoy greater financial stability
during their careers.
their favorite team disappearing
and enjoy a more competitive league
than ever before
generations.
We hope to see our fans grow older and pass on their fandom to
their children,
and cheer for their favorite teams as families.
support
their favorite teams without fearing the teams’
relegation. All these efforts
will lead to improving LCK’s
performance, which will
eventually result in a better experience
for the fans.
Successful
Long-term partnership Model
against teams’ lack
of competence
relegation can backfire
and cause some teams to
lose their motivation to perform well.
We will implement various mechanisms to
prevent that from happening,
and keep our
teams in their best shape.
discontinued,
and a new Academy league
will be taking its place
taking place as LCK transforms into the
Long-term partnership model;
instead, a new Academy league will be formed.
Every LCK team will be required to form
the Academy league roster
and participate in the
Academy league to foster new talents for LCK.
The league will also support the smooth migration
of the players from
LoL Challengers Korea to
LCK teams’ rosters
prior to the launch of 2021 LCK.
Long-term partnership
and Build a Stronger LCK
-
We plan to make LCK the best Esports league in the world through
the implementation of the Long-term partnership model and the
newly formed relationship among its participants.
We are looking for teams we can partner up with who are
committed
to make this second chapter of LCK a success. -
Every team we select will be a team that our fans can proudly
support. Those teams will also be financially stable
and have the knowledge and capability to support its players
properly. We were able to take learnings from LCS,
LEC, and LPL, which have already gone through the team selection
process to Long-term partnership, and we plan to improve
upon them even further to select the perfect teams for LCK. - The team selection process consists of four phases.
Application Submission
-
To the teams/companies submitting a Letter of Intent
(LOI) by May 8th, 2020, we will be sending them more
specific
information for applying to LCK.
Based on the information provided,
the teams/companies will have to submit
their applications including business
plans,
team management plans, financial plans,
and other required documents by June 19th, 2020. - The application must answer the questions below.
-
Business Plan
1. What is the vision for your business in the Esports market?
2. What is your strategy and execution plan to expand the
team’s fanbase?3. What is your strategy and execution plan to grow the
team’s revenue? -
Team Operation Plan
1. How do you plan to structure your organization for
successful operation of both the team and the business?2. How do you plan to allocate your human resources for
successful operation?3. Which experts do you plan to hire to ensure expertise
in team operation?4. How do you plan to build a system for recruiting and
training players?5. What kind of infrastructure do you plan to implement
to protect and improve player rights? -
Fundraising Plan
1. How much capital do you plan to possess for the team’s
operation?2. How do you plan to secure the funds you need?
3. How do you plan to attract investors that share your vision
of the team
Application Review and Interview
-
Our goal is to find powerful long-term partners that
share our vision for the future of LCK and have the ability
to make it happen.
We plan to do so by defining strict standards that fits our
goal and closely examining our applicants. - The application review process is as follows.
-
We will select a certain number of potential candidates
with the submitted applications in the first round. The
second round will
be an in-depth interview with the
representative of the applying team/company where we
decide if the applicant is fit to be a
participant of LCK.
This process will take place from June through August.
Selection and Signing
-
Teams that are selected in the final round of screening
sign a Long-term partnership agreement with the
league.
Public Announcement of
LCK Long-term partnership Teams
-
Once the agreements with all teams are signed, the
league will announce the full list of the LCK Long-term
partnership. Teams and players
will start preparing for
the next season in a timely manner.
-
Phase I.
Application
Submission April 6th - June 19th -
Phase II.
Application
Review and Interview June - August -
Phase III.
Selection
and Signing September -
Phase IV.
Public Announcement
of LCK
Long-term
partnership Teams Late September
-
We are excited to announce this news of the future of LCK.
We also look forward to meeting the Long-term partnership teams
that will be joining us in this adventure. -
We believe today to be the first step out of many to achieve
the future we dream of.
We ask for your unchanging support as we progress to a better LCK.
- The application submission was due on June 19th and a total of 21 entities have submitted their applications.
-
# Entity Remarks 1 ADE Sports DWG 2 AfreecaTV Afreeca Freecs 3 APE Sports SeolHaeOne Prince 4 Bigpicture Gaming Element Mystic 5 BLNT Gaming ESC Shane 6 Brion Esports hyFresh Blade 7 DRX DRX 8 Gamer Republic, Inc. N/A 9 Gen.G esports Gen.G esports 10 Hanwha Life Insurance Hanwha Life Esports 11 KT Sports KT Rolster 12 Omaken Sports AS Omaken Sports 13 Optimumzone Esports OZ Gaming 14 R&F6 RunAway 15 Sandbox Gaming Sandbox Gaming 16 Sema Esports Jin Air Greenwings 17 SK Telecom CS T1 18 Sono Hotel & Resort Awesome Spear 19 Team Dynamics Team Dynamics 20 WDG N/A 21 World Game Star N/A < The list is in the alphabetical order >
-
‘Pittsburgh Knights’ and ‘Treasure Hunter’ who both had submitted LOIs before are partnered with other applicants.
Riot Games will undergo the evaluation process for the next two months and announce the final results near the end of September.
-
Since June 19th, Riot Games has spent the last two months to review 21 LCK Franchise applicants,
and have finalized selecting our preferred organizations for the 2021 LCK Franchise. -
On our first round of evaluations, we reviewed application packages and financial statuses to select
20 organizations. Since late July, we moved on to the
second round with them to evaluate the organizations’ owners, business plans, and team management plans. -
To keep the second round as fair and insightful as possible, we invited 6 external experts in sports
business, other professional sports leagues, accounting firms, and part of our panels. Each of them
shared the same amount of points as our internal judges. -
We thank all organizations and parties that showed great interest in the LCK franchise, and present
results from the second round of evaluations as follows. -
※ Preferred organizations will negotiate terms to participate in the 2021 LCK Franchise from
September 9th. Final organizations will be announced afterwards.
-
◼ Preferred Organizations (in the alphabetical order)
Organizations Remarks ADE Sports Damwon Gaming AfreecaTV Afreeca Freecs Brion Esports hyFresh Blade DRX DRX Gen.G esports Gen.G esports Hanwha Life Insurance Hanwha Life Esports KT Sports KT Rolster Sandbox Gaming Sandbox Gaming SK Telecom CS T1 Team Dynamics Team Dynamics -
◼ Waitlist
# Organizations Remark 1 APE Sports SeolHaeOne Prince 2 Bigpicture Gaming Element Mystic 3 Sema Esports Jin Air Greenwings 4 Sono Hotel & Resort Awesome Spear 5 Optimumzone Esports OZ Gaming
-
What happens next?
Organizations will have time to negotiate terms in joining the 2021 LCK Franchise from September 9th. Finalized organizations will be announced after this in mid-October. However, the schedule is subject to change.
-
Are preferred organizations locked in for the 2021 LCK Franchise?
Preferred organizations will have from September 9th to negotiate terms for joining the 2021 LCK Franchise. The final list will consist of those who can come to an agreement. If a preferred organization fails to come to an agreement, they will be dropped, and their slot will pass on to the next candidate on the waitlist. Therefore, being a preferred organization does not mean they are locked, and they will be going through a more in-depth process to be on the finalized list.
-
Why are there only 10 teams?
Although we thought long and hard about opening more slots, we came to a conclusion that the essence of a franchised league is about laying a firm foundation on which a sustainable business model can grow. We plan to expand slots after we successfully expand our market and start amplifying our revenue.
-
There are concerns for some teams’ financial stability
We are aware of the concerns some fans have about certain teams’ financial stability. Organizations on the preferred list received great scores from both internal and external judges alike. This included financial stability, ownership, team management skills, and business plans. However, we do plan to take a closer look into the teams fans are concerned about during the negotiation process.
- Riot Games Korea have finalized the 10 organizations that will join the LCK franchise beginning in 2021.
- In August, Riot Games announced the 10 organizations in negotiations to join the LCK. Following two rounds of screening with outside experts and a month of contract negotiations, all 10 organizations have decided to secure their spot in the LCK next season by paying their first set of franchise fees on October 30th. Teams currently participating in the LCK will pay 10 billion won (roughly $8.8 million USD) and the new LCK team will pay 12 billion won (roughly $10.5 million USD) in installments over the next five years.
-
Final 10 Orgnizations
The 10 organizations selected to join the 2021 LCK are Brion Esports (hyFresh Blade), Sandbox Gaming, Afreeca Freecs, AD E-Sports (Damwon Gaming), kt Sports (kt Rolster), Team Dynamics, Hanwha Life Insurance (Hanwha Life Esports), DRX, Gen.G Esports, and SK Telecom CS T1 (T1).
- Riot Games will establish a separate corporation for the LCK in order to foster the growth of a sustainable esports ecosystem and a league to be enjoyed by future generations. As LCK's revenues will be distributed to teams, teams can expect financial transparency and the participation in major decision-making related to the league. Sang-hun Oh(Sean Oh), current director of Esports at Riot Games Korea, will be the head of the corporation.
- Starting from the launch of the franchise, various systems including the removal of the Challengers Promotion system, the creation of a second-tier league, and the strengthening of player support will be introduced. The goal of the LCK is to enable stable and long-term team operations and to foster a competitive esports league that can satisfy teams, players and fans.
-
LCK Preferential Negotiation Period
An LCK preferential negotiation period will be implemented ahead of the launch of the franchise next year. This period is designated to help players and coaching staff members of teams not selected to participate in next year's LCK before the official FA period for LoL eSports, which will start on the third Monday of November. Details related to this will be announced separately.
- More details of the LCK will be released ahead of the 2021 LCK season.