Announced in August of 2017, League of Legends Scouting Grounds serves several purposes. The most obvious reason, though, is that it is a replacement. After announcing enfranchisement of the NA LCS, the Challenger series, and all the great players in it, were made defunct. This isn’t such a huge problem for North America – which has never been a region too interested in relegation – but it does serve as a good testing ground for how Riot is going to handle the rest of the world as the pro scene continues to evolve, and it offers a simple answer for how to keep top-tier players from the community involved.

Fans enjoy seeing new personalities and talent rise to the top. It’s the same reason why so many fans tune in by the millions to college football or basketball and why there is such an interest in rookies. For a sport to have longevity, it has to start building a legacy and taking steps to prepare for the next generation to take over. That is a large part of what the Scouting Grounds is.

Entry is granted by a few strict circumstances – such as having a certain amount of your games spread across numerous champions – to show versatility – and to have been in the top four of either Masters or Challengers series. Anyone in the top four of their lane – top, jungle, mid, ADC, or support – will be given an invitation to join the Scouting Grounds, where they will be assigned to one of four teams coached by a professional LCS coach.

This is where the Scouting Grounds gets interesting though. The most obvious function of the Grounds is to groom new players and to facilitate teams in finding new talent. By allowing coaches to work hands on with new talent, Riot allows coaches to judge whether or not they find the players they work with to be good fits for their team and style. Riot also allows teams to forfeit their draw and position in choosing new talent, instead selling it to the other teams for additional revenue.

In this way, the Scouting Grounds help to address a previous concern about Riot’s lack of support for teams. Not only does Riot help scouting efforts – which are vastly easier than what other sports have to deal with in traveling across the country to find talent – but they offer additional rewards if teams would like to opt out.

Though it doesn’t have much of the mystique and excitement fans enjoyed from the Challenger series, it does offer an avenue for fans to get a chance to see what’s to come and to build excitement for where certain talent will be drawn to.