Riot Games has announced to revert the format of the next Spring Season from the existing Best of 3 back to Best of 1 (BO1) via the official website on September 29th. Riot mentions in the announcement that, after reviewing feedbacks from fans, teams, and related professionals, they have decided to make a change as this will be beneficial for everyone.



Due to this change, the matches will no longer be held 3 times a week, but twice - each on Saturday and Sunday, during lunch times. The streaming format also changes. The existing Double Streaming format - two matches are streamed simultaneously on different channels - will change to the Single Streaming format instead. Riot said that further details about the starting time and league schedule will be announced in the near future.



After the official announcement, league-related parties expressed their opinions about it. Most owners were positive about this decision.

Jack Etienne, C9 - C9 supports Riot Game’s decision. It’s the correct move to ensure the health of the league in long term. Twitter



Mike Rufail, EnVyUs - I think BO1s will help viewers grasp the league much better. Twitter



Ben Spoont‏, Mistfits -I’m a huge fan of the BO1. Hope EU follows suit. Twitter



Hotshot GG, CLG- From a viewership perspective, BO1 is the superior format. It's not about money, it's about making the majority engaged and happy. Twitter



Although owners seem to share the same opinion, pro players are expressing different thoughts about it. Pobelter and Cody Sun from Immortals showed negativity towards this issue, but Mike Yeung from P1, on the other hand, left a positive comment.



Pobelter, Immortals - I actually cannot believe as a pro LCS player you could want to revert back to BO1. You play less games in 1 season of BO1 than 1 split BO3. Twitter



Cody Sun, Immortals - Agreed Twitter



Mike Yeung, P1 - I love riot games. Franchising is going to be awesome. Looking forward to playing in the new BO1 format! Twitter



Coaches and other eSports celebrities voiced about this issue. They also had different thoughts.



Dyrus - BO1 = more $$$. BO3 = onstage experience for international events. Twitter



Sangsu “SSONG” Kim, the coach of Immortals- Although BO1 can be an advantage for new or weak teams in the beginning, the chances of having experiences is now lesser than before, preventing them to become stronger in a short amount of time. I don’t think it’s a big change. (via a phone call with Inven)



MonteCristo - Interested to see what happens to the casters when NA LCS goes back to BO1 after expanding for BO3. Fire them or people do 1 game per day? Twitter

There are many thoughts about this change from different perspectives, but the most important one is whether this will impact the quality of view and performance. According to fans’ feedbacks, it is also possible that the viewership and the number of viewers will receive the positive impact, but not so with the performance.



Therefore, how Riot resolves related issues with the low performance will determine the result of this change. In Reddit, There was an idea that the spring season goes with Bo1 and keep the summer Bo3 in order to keep NA LCS' competitiveness for Worlds. This idea has been upvoted more than 2,600 with various possitive comments.

Meanwhile, Riot added that the format will possibly revert to BO3 or take a different form after initiating BO1 and reviewing feedback.