TSM, C9, Liquid, CLG, Echo Fox, Flyquest, Optic Gaming, Cleveland Cavs, Houston Rockets,Golden State

Pure speculation but I feel like the NBA ownership has a lot more trendy types in it that football does. Like, the NBA has Mark Cuban in Dallas, the NFL has Jerry Jones. The guy who bought the Clippers was a tech guy from Silicon Valley I think. Idk, I just feel like they'd be a little more willing to try something like esports out than most of the NFL owners. That said Robert Kraft who owns the New England Patriots did buy the Boston overwatch slot if I'm not mistaken. He's a little more trendy though, he wears sneakers basically all the time because he just doesn't give a fuck about that type of stuff anymore.

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Its funny they've been comparing League to Basketball like forever and then they have like 4 Basketball team join the League LMAO

Riot would do this, its funny there's not even a Football team that made it or any other sport team, why Basketball team? XD

Because football owners are kind of partial to making money. There are far more flamboyant rich boys with their toys as NBA owners. Oh the NFL has a few. But mostly they are far more conservative with their money.

NBA is definitely the flashier of all of the sports and oddly has the closest set up to league play. 5v5 and 5-on-5. Point guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward, Power Forward, Center to a Top, Mid, Jungler, ADC, and Support. All positions in each league has a basic skill set for each role but each player/Character can very in style.

Plus, all NBA teams play in an arena which is a necessity for LCS play vs. NFL playing in stadiums many having domes but not nearly as "compact" enough for LCS play.

Since we ONLY know the NBA teams who purchased a spot, I used their names as place holders...... [zombie-brand-facepalm]

Nope, happened a lot when the NBA and NFL switched up teams as their leagues became streamlined and into what we see today. We forget the NBA and NFL had those same "it's just a game for kids" air to them when they were building their professional scenes since the majority of us have grown up with them already established. League pro-play has a long way to go and this is just the beginning.

Sure, I'd like to see some of those players return but we also need to find domestic talent and develop a system that makes us better. It's clear dependence isn't working for us.

I think riot had two primary objectives:

1. Make as much space as possible for "big sports" investors
2. Alienate as few fans as possible

Having "big sports" (like big pharma but for sports lol) organizations involved in the LCS is beneficial to riot and the league in pretty much every way. Those orgs have more resources and influence than most of the OG esports orgs, so they can advertise more, produce more merch, pay pros better, etc. All of this equates to more profit for riot, and better chances that the league survives the test of time.

The big con is that removing existing teams from the LCS alienates the fan base- who are what gives the league value in the first place. (Don't bite the hand which feeds...). Another related con is that some OG esports culture is lost Riot is probably bummed about this but culture comes second to profit and survival.

It seems pretty obvious that C9, TSM, and CLG were kept. I feel like these teams have the largest fanbases and generate the most culture.

As for the other 3 original teams:

Fly is tied to the Milwaukee bucks.

Echo Fox is owned by ex-nba player turned entrepreneur, Rick Fox. He's connected to the NBA and given that all of the new "big sports" investors are NBA teams it's probably best to not piss him off. (It might worry NBA teams to see one of their own lose their investment)

TL has funding from Monumental Sports and Entertainment- exactly the type of org that riot would want invested in the LCS. Also Magic Johnson.

Removing P1 and NV was probably a no-brainer as they were relatively new anyways and hadn't won enough to garner a ton of attention.

Removing IMT makes sense as they became partners with ESL in September. ESL is the LCS' biggest competitor, and the most likely to cut the life of professional LOL short.

Removing DIG is interesting because they are backed by the 76ers. I imagine that their bid just wasn't competitive.

Well that's just wrong. C9 and I believe Optic have OWL teams. IMT was reportedly functioning in the red and then they invest in an OWL team. I would imagine it didn't seem like a promising investment for Riot.