League of Legends Franchises for $10 Million, $13 Million for Outsiders

by Nicholas Armstrong | Aug 15, 2017 | Esports, Esports section, Videogames

League of Legends Franchises for $10 Million, $13 Million for Outsiders

by Nicholas Armstrong | Aug 15, 2017 | Esports, Esports section, Videogames

There has been a lot of talk about the numbers associated with buying into the League of Legends franchise and whether or not the Promotion tournament that recently took place would bump the price tag to $13 million for teams that didn’t qualify.

At the end of this week’s tournament, League of Legends Analyst Jatt (Joshua Leesman) touched on the issue of buying into the franchise, stating:

“Teams outside of the LCS or CS ecosystem… pay an additional three million dollars.”

This was in response to the confusing importance of the Promotions tournament. Jatt was quick to clarify that LCS and CS teams would all be offered a $10 million dollar buy in if their application was accepted. He did, however, go on to explain that some minor differences would exist for teams depending on their seniority in the sport or “years of service” as he put it. He also added:

“There will be a minor difference in that formula depending on the results of [Promotions].”

What this means for Team Liquid and Phoenix1 after the results of Promotions is that they will more than likely be offered a better deal than their CS counterparts. These exact numbers are being kept under wraps, but it does appear as if Riot is trying to maintain the integrity of their teams while still allowing for the natural growth of the eSport.

To give some parameters to measure this cost, the only other eSport currently franchised is Blizzard’s Overwatch series, which was reported to have asked teams for a $20 million buy-in. Other eSports operate much how LoL previously did, with relegation and teams entering by skill. However, teams were still allowed to sell their ‘spot’, as G2 Esports did for $700,000, or as NiKo did for $500,000 (both of those being CS:GO teams).

While the $10 million buy-in still seems rather steep, it’s worth remembering that the Clippers were sold for $2 billion, and by those standards, every team is getting off rather cheap, especially considering that more people watch the World Championships of eSports than the NBA, NHL, and MLB combined.

RECENT VIDEOS

TRENDING NOW

Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer Review Read Now

Also…

Don’t forget to check out some of our other weekly pieces, The LoL Weekly Preview, The LoL Weekly Recap, The Something I’m forgetting, and The Weekly In Preview.