After a busy and thrilling free company interval, the hype surrounding the upcoming LCS season has charged as much as new ranges amongst North American League of Legends followers. But when Riot Games introduced the controversial modifications to the league’s schedule, issues began to bubble from supporters across the state of the league, together with 100 Thieves’ celebrity AD carry Doublelift.
The 29-year-old veteran just lately introduced his return to skilled play with the Thieves this previous offseason, and through his newest stream, he voiced worries about how transferring broadcast hours to Thursday and Friday at noon would have an effect on viewership.
“How much percentage drop off could merit them to rethink the schedule?” Doublelift stated. “Obviously, doomsday is [where] the new schedule drops, and the LCS has half the viewership from before… Would that be enough for the LCS’ managerial staff to revert the change? Or is it one of those things where we have to just tank it for a whole year or a whole split?”
Related: LCS may simply lose extra than simply its primetime slot after 2023 schedule modifications
One of Doublelift’s followers additionally introduced up the truth that even when the league decides to revert the modifications, it might be extraordinarily arduous to return to the unique format as a result of the brand new NA VALORANT broadcast has taken over the weekend spot on the Riot Games Arena.
Given “Riot’s new favorite child” has shifted into place and the LEC additionally has a distinct schedule to keep away from overlap on weekends, there are a lot of totally different elements that should be moved round to accommodate the LCS if the corporate decides to return issues again to regular. This implies that if viewership numbers start to wrestle in North America, the LCS should cope with the drops till the tip of the season.
“[Riot has] finessed themselves mentally into thinking this is actually going to be better for the LCS,” Doublelift concluded. “What I don’t like about this plan is they are so sure of it, that there is no way for them to walk it back. Worst case scenario, we could potentially be locked into a situation where LCS has -30 to 50 percent viewership for a whole year, and that would suck for everyone trying to get sponsorships, secure more funding, or sell their LCS spot to a new, shiny investor.”
The 2023 LCS Spring Split is scheduled to start on Jan. 26.
