The LCS Summer Split may not start on the scheduled date. The vote to call a players’ strike in protest of Riot’s decision to remove the requirement to submit NACL rosters was favorable.
The start date of the new LCS season is uncertain
Recall that a few days ago, a vote was called to determine whether North American LoL league players would go on strike. The players voted in favor of the strike. So right now, the start of the new LCS season is uncertain.
Yesterday the LCSPA published the players’ decision. The association comments that this is not a decision taken lightly by the players.
To decide to favor the strike, all LCS players debated and discussed their points of view. Undoubtedly the common point of each player is that their priority is to compete and play.
On the other hand, the LCSPA states that the “importance and urgency” of the league’s problems have been demonstrated by the vote in favor of the strike.
At the same time, the LCSPA comments that one of the players’ main complaints is that Riot Games never informed them of the decision taken before making the official announcement. In addition, they ask that the league executives meet to resume negotiations.
It is unclear whether the player strike will continue until the start of the new season. However, the strike may affect the start of the Summer Split, which is scheduled for June 1.
— LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) May 29, 2023
LCS Summer Split
If the start of the LCS Summer Split goes as planned, we will see ten teams playing on the first day. It will, in turn, see a rematch of the Spring Split final between Golden Guardians and Cloud9 and the return of NRG to the league.
However, it is unknown how the stoppage may affect the start of the season. At the moment, Riot Games has not commented on the strike. However, the LCSPA has put five requests on the table for league officials to consider.
Among the requests is to include incentives for participating teams, with a $300k revenue pool for each NACL team so they can pay salaries. Another request is to create a promotion and relegation system as they have in the VALORANT league; with this system, they would allow level two teams to have the opportunity to advance to level one. At the same time, they request contracts for LoL level two players.
LCS rule changes
Ten of the LCS owners voted to make it optional to have the league system. After that, during the Mid-Season Invitational 2023 in London, Riot Games announced that LCS teams no longer had to submit a mandatory NACL roster.
Since then, TSM, 100 Thieves, Golden Guardians, NRG, Immortals, Cloud9, and Dignitas have left the academy program. While only Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and FlyQuest are the teams that have kept their NACL lineups.