Riot Games have released their franchising plans for the 2018 North American League Championship Series. These changes will see the Challenger Series will evolve into an Academy League, revenue sharing for teams, and promotion and regulation cut in favor of permanent league slots.
Additional details from a panel with Yahoo Esports also revealed that there will no longer be bidding for slots. Now a requirement will see a flat fee of $10 million for existing teams and $13 million for new teams. Existing LCS teams that lose out on a franchise slot will be allowed to arrange buyouts of contracted players, as well as their own brands.
Riot Games are also committing to a minimum player salary of $75,000 per year and will share 35 percent of league revenue with pros. 32.5% of league revenue will be shared with the teams while the other 32.5% will be retained to Riot Games.
