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@Riot You want to fix International/Competitive Play? Heres your answer:

MakJuice·5/21/2017, 1:35:06 AM·1 votes·536 views

Bottom line, two words, one brief sentence: "Salary Cap."

Why are some teams light years ahead of others? Money.

You pay the QB of your NFL team the most money because they are the most important, However the team as a whole, has a salary cap, so that the franchises with the most money, do not sky-rocket in jersey sales/revenue/merchandise from ALWAYS being good which is what teams like SKT and TSM do. This leads to star WR's taking on star DB's, and Star QB's facing studded defenses, and not a Superbowl fielded team, taking on a bunch of rookies and a couple of 30+ year old veterans looking for a quick check.

Why is TSM constantly #1 in NA? If you are betting on whose going to win the NA LCS, your betting TSM wether your a fan of that specific team or not. Put "team favoritism" aside, and realize this is a region, and salary cap issue... Moving onto the thread's main topic As long as SKT in particular is able to continue to over-pay their players, more than any other korean team, they will continue to win their region, as well as continue to grow the biggest fan base off simply winning, which in turn, keeps them on top by constantly rotating players in and out, for any player that shows even a hint of falter in their gameplay... Do you think 3/5's of TSM rosters, if not the entire roster, would last more than two practice days playing on SKT's main team? The answer is no, which is why NA's competition as well as EU and China, will never compete with Korea, now that the game has reached such a huge audience, particularly in the LCS scene which is in a sense, relevant and consistent with a NBA league or NFL league.

The formula (example) Lets say each roster has $500,000... you now have to decide, do you want to spend $400,000 on one player and then dish out 25,000 to trash players? Do you spend 100,000 5 ways? This creates fair and equal competition within the regions. Sure Korea has better players than every other region, however, this opens the door for teams to add imports, or to fish players from their region because their region's teams cannot afford them because of the salary cap. You now, no longer have a super team named SKT, that can barely be competed against by the #2 team in korea.. You now have 10 korean teams, all equally payed, which leads to funner games, like you see in the NFL,NBA,MLB.

This also would happen for NA/EU/China, which would again, stop NA from having the same top 2-3 teams, because they got the "early jump" in the scene, and now creates a much more balanced league, where anything can happen.. For example, in korea, whatever team Faker would be on, he would be the highest paid player on his team out-right, however, when his team faces another team, his ADC isnt as technically "good" as the enemy teams adc, because faker is being paid to carry the game, which in turn, can lead to an enjoyable, unpredictable game... since Faker's ADC is being paid $40,000 but the other team's adc is being paid $100,000

Having a salary cap is the right choice, if you want league of legends LCS/LCK/LPL/EU LCS etc to continue to prosper and not dwindle into another game where one region rules all.. It would make many viewers like myself, actually commit to a team in the NA region and other regions and enjoy watching them every week, because you know your team has a chance no matter what. However, many of us find ourselves losing interest in the NA LCS simply because no matter what team wins it, its not beating whatever Korean super team, has been built this year. So why would I pick the #8 team in NA to root for when they have less than a 5% chance of even sniffing the NA playoffs, and less than a 0% chance of beating a team like SKT?

So I as well as others find ourselves rooting for NA as a whole, and only tune in for a weekend of international play (MSI, Worlds), just to watch our top regions team take a beat down, just to walk away saying, oh nice our region still sucks, and thats the super korean team thats winning it all this year, see you at next worlds. However, if you had a salary cap in place for every team equally, You stop people from watching specific teams/games in the NA lcs like C9, CLG, TSM, Liquid. And you find more people watching more games and more teams, because you can now actually choose a team to follow, knowing that the background (money issue) is fair, and your not watching a team being paid $200,000 play against a team making 1.5million. Their is no incentive and nothing to enjoy when watching an unfair matchup like that because 9time out of 10 we all already know the result.

Now by doing the salary cap, would NA still be beaten by korean teams? It would be more likely yes, but the games would all become MUCH closer, especially in international play, simply because you would not have all the top #1-#2 players in korea on one single team, vsing maybe a #1, #8, #23,etc NA ranked player team, you would instead have maybe a best NA mid player (Quarterback of the NA team), vsing a Best Korean adc player (quarterback of the Korean team) on opposing teams, while the rest of the team would be the Left tackles, Defensive backs, wide receivers of the team....

3 Comments

Dr Poro5/21/2017, 10:21:11 AM4 votes

It's not just about the salary. SKT can pay their players a lot less because they want to be with SKT not for the money but for the fame. (If they get famous, they get much more viewers and money through twitch). The most famous (aka the best) team will still attract the best players.

Stop trying to govern this through communism. Let the free market play out. It's not like Korea wins purely because of money. Koreans are just the best players. They're not importing Chinese, EU or NA players. We are actually importing them to try and get to their level.

Of course the team with more money has a huge advantage. It's not just about player salary, but also the whole infrastructure behind it. Coaches, analysts, logistics, etc. all play a HUGE role in the performance of a team. Take Huni for example and look how much he has grown since he joined SKT. This team actually manages to get the most out of a player.

GeminiRune5/21/2017, 2:42:55 AM3 votes

I can respect all the efforts of suggestions to "improve" competitive play and whatnot. But why...just why does everything League eSports specifically have to produce this desperate need to want to change and thus compare itself to actual sports with decades of stability backing the system? Since when and why does League of Legends have to be the measuring stick to add up to a different competitive culture that's not even globally sound?

MysterQ5/21/2017, 6:25:05 AM1 votes

I disagree greatly with equal pay between regions. If there was a salary cap, each region should set their own cap based on their own market. It is ridiculous to apply a low cap to Korea just because other teams cannot compete. Now I am not saying they should be uncapped, but arguing their community puts a lot into it so they will/should naturally have a higher cap. It could prevent superteams still, but it would still also allow them to make teams their fans can enjoy.

And, people need to realize it isn't all about salary. You aren't as bad. You at least say it is the fact that SKT is allowed to pay for the best players. Other people will argue the fact that Koreans make more makes them better lol.