Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians left the North American LoL League in November, leaving two slots in the top league vacant. It wasn’t long before organizations who are not in the league showed interest in taking advantage of exits to enter into the league.
Some of these organizations have proposed the possibilities of buy-ins to Riot even before the developer did so.
The organizations who have shown interest in buy-ins since the departure of EG and GG from the LCS, are GameSquare Esports (owners of FaZe and Complexity), Enthusiast Gaming (owners of Luminosity Gaming and CDL franchise Seattle Surge), and DarkZero Esports. Furthermore, they didn’t restrict discussions with the two LCS teams who departed but also with other LCS teams who mooted the possibility of leaving but never did.
They exploited buying the LCS slot or the LCS team’s entire organization, which is not a new thing in the LCS this year as both have happened. One of those situations is that of NRG’s entrance into the LCS after they acquired the entire CLG organization from the Madison Square Garden Corporation.
When TSM departed LCS shortly after NRG’s exit, Shopify Rebellion bought their LCS slot for a reported $10 million. Meanwhile, the discussions between the interested organizations and the LCS teams they wanted to take over were majorly based on stock compensation to allow the owners of the selling team to become part of the shareholders on the buying team.
However, the cash buyout that Riot offered was more appealing than becoming a shareholder due to the fact that being shareholders would subject them to subsequent market corrections.
More than half the LCS teams at the time spoke to Riot about a potential buyout: 100 Thieves, NRG, Dignitas, Immortals, Golden Guardians, and Evil Geniuses all did because the deal was attractive. The offer included $6 million in cash, waiving any remaining debt, and an outstanding payment for the organization’s share of the league revenue pool.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
