This LCS Off-Season has sparked more public discourse than any other year. Evil Geniuses, Immortals and Dignitas return to the LCS and were looking to spend big money to make a loud entrance. And loud it was. All 10 LCS rosters were finalized in record time, and with plenty of controversy, as 25 out of the 50 starting players are now imports.

Outrage was the name of the game as not a single 2019 Scouting Grounds player made it to an LCS starting lineup, and players like Damonte and Pobelter were dropped, even though last year’s import to native ratio was 24/26. So why were teams turning their back on North American Talent? Are NA players bad? Are there any good players left?

Suggestions ranged from, NA has a smaller player base, high ping in solo queue, poor academy system, unimpactful Scouting Grounds, lack of 3rd party tournaments, poor team culture, tragic solo queue, streamers influencing solo queue negatively and so forth.

Blessed we were when backseat geniuses suggested “Make a west coast server!” or “Copy EU masters!” But not every idea was hollow, for allowing minor regions to not take up import slots, and the streaming of inhouse scrims were a start.

Instead of sitting here and dissecting why these suggestions may or may not work. I propose a solution that few are already doing, and all we need to do is reframe the “problems” NA has into opportunities. Keep these points in mind as you read through the next paragraphs.

-Large influencers affect solo queue attitudes

-It’s more financially sensible to be a streamer than a pro

-NA has one of the world’s smallest LoL player bases

-Lack of trustworthy 3rd party tournaments

-LoL influencer marketing is well into the millions of dollars

This December, the Tyler1 Championship Series returns, where Tyler1 puts forth 50k of his own money in a winner take all, online tournament, produced and hosted by him, featuring a wide range of community personalities and streamers. This event is set to have 50k-300k viewers.

At the moment, Tyler1 is not the norm, but the exception. As a self made man, taking no sponsorships, you have to respect the hustle. He is opening the doors for NA to prosper, can we look past the show and accept what he is giving?

What he is giving us is the template for 3rd party tournaments. Instead of relying on a 3rd party tournament organizer, tournaments hosted from a streamer’s channel not only guarantee viewership, but a degree of competitive integrity. It features opportunities for more content creator collaborations, takes a burden from many streamers’s frustrations in having to play solo queue for content, and gives brands a chance to be titular sponsors in streamer’s tournaments, as well as hosting ads, CTA’s and segments in the show. These can front the cost not only of the prize pools, but of the streamer’s time and effort.

Picture a world where the top 6 streamers host their own bi-monthly, or even monthly tournaments in the same way Tyler1 does. It wouldn’t take much of their time as many of them are represented by some of the world’s leading agencies, and finding sponsors to field 50k for events of this caliber is not unrealistic. My dream would include Riot becoming involved, allowing Tournament Realm access, and adding an extra layer of security and promotion. From this year’s TFT launch, Worlds, All-Stars, Spring and Summer Finals, it’s clear that Riot now fully believes that the success of their games is tied to the success of their influencers.

Parallel to the LCS, there could be an online tournament circuit featuring up to $600k in prize pool money, tied to an existing viewer base, for a fraction of the cost of major 3rd party tournaments, and benefitting streamers, aspiring pros, developers, producers, sponsors, leagues, teams, talent development and more.

Why would these tournaments fix NA? They don’t, because you can’t “fix it”. All you can do is provide people with the tools necessary to become the best League of Legends players they can be. This gives players an opportunity to gradually phase out their 9-5 McDonald’s jobs as they can turn their pro gaming career into an equal or greater profit. Currently, the only option for aspiring pros, is to be streamers, case and point being KatEvolved, the #1 pick from Scouting Grounds. It’s the only way to justify the immense time commitment, and not end up homeless playing from the computers at the public library.

Concerns for this system would be an undermining of the LCS. LCS viewership may suffer if one weekend out of each month they are competing with a sponsored streamer tournament (You could just host them during weekday nights). Yet I think the value add more than makes up for a potential viewership conflict, as it would not only reinvigorate many players's hopes for playing professionally but it would create the organic development of teams, and individuals akin to the self organized pioneers who paved the way back when esports wasn’t as corporate. NA talent would develop itself.

“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat”