Cleveland Guardians
San Diego Padres
Houston Astros
Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The 3 confirmed LCS organizations who will remain in the NACL
With MSI still in full motion, North American fans are focusing on different news within their region. Riot Games announced back on May 12th that after a single split of the North American Challengers League being open, the rule to sponsor an NACL roster is no longer required for LCS squads. As such, most of the NA LCS organizations have decided to step down from the project, giving a massive blow to the development scene within North America.
However 3 organizations are still committed to develop young talent via the NACL system for the summer 2023 edition. Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and FlyQuest will continue
FlyQuest’s team president Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith opted to release a 5 minute video with further context and explanation, confirming the organization’s commitment to the Challengers League.
In the announcement, PapaSmithy explained the reasoning and history behind the first set of rules for LCS teams to develop young talent via the NACL back in 2017. This video gave a lot of context for fans who were not quiet in loop with the rules or the situation. PapaSmithy went in depth on the investment necessary for such a project, while honestly mentioning that the efforts from the last 6 years of the NACL have been unsuccessful overall while compared to other regions.
As for Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, they also published their own videos discussing their reasoning to stay in the NACL for the foreseeable future. Team Liquid’s CEO Steve Arhancet provided similar points to PapaSmithy in Team Liquid’s announcement. Arhancet talked about the much needed improvements for the NACL moving forward, while also sharing data and statistics on how much it really costs to sponsor NACL rosters from California.
As of the moment, there are a total of 7 confirmed teams for the 2023 NACL Summer Split, unfortunately becoming the lowest number of organizations in the Tier 2 league since its conception. There is no official statement from Riot Games when it comes to possible promotion of more amateur organizations from 3rd party promotional tournaments, in order to field more seats for the next split. In previous instances, the LCS Academy league did invite less teams than expected, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it remains only at 7 organizations total.
With the Challengers League currently requiring live play within California, amateur organizations would find it difficult to abide by said rule. As most of Tier 3 or 2 organizations do not have enough sponsors or income to host an entire roster plus staff members in California.
The LCS is set to start on June 1st.
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