The LCS split has been delayed
LCS Representation At Worlds 2023 Could Be In Jeopardy
Riot has made their stance clear on the upcoming North American League of Legends Summer Split and if a solution can't be found, then NA might not even have any representatives at the 2023 World Championship in South Korea.
With recent demands from the LCS Player Association following the dissolution of multiple Academy teams from various LCS orgs, Riot has made the decision to suspend the start of the LCS Summer Split until common ground has been found between the players, orgs and league.
LCS Summer Split To Be Delayed
Riot have announced that the LCS Summer Split, which was meant to start on June 1, 2023, will be delayed for two weeks. In these two weeks the league, teams and players will try to have meaningful discussions to try and find a middle ground between what Riot and the orgs is feasible, while the LCSPA try to push for their demands.
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Ahead of the LCS walkout vote, the LCSPA had five demands they wanted from Riot, with Naz Aletaha, Global Head of LoL Esports, responding to those demands in a recent post on the official lolesports website.
In the following two weeks, Riot hopes that there will be good dialogue between all the parties involved to solve the issues and demands given, so that the LCS Summer Split can move on. It was also mentioned that if there is no middle ground found, then the Summer Split will have to be scrapped completely.
Delaying beyond the two-week window would make it nearly impossible to run a legitimate competition, and in that case, we would be prepared to cancel the entire LCS summer season.
If the Summer Split does get delayed, then there also won't be any North American teams that qualify for the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, meaning we might have Worlds without any NA representatives.
Carrying this forward, if the LCS summer season is canceled, this will also eliminate LCS teams qualifying for 2023 Worlds.
While this is not the result that Riot wants it is what they might have to do. For now, it seems like Riot is not looking to negotiate any of the demands the LCSPA has outlined, going by what has been posted online.