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Changes needed to make the league games more exciting...

Hellmet·1/7/2016, 12:48:03 AM·3 votes·1,060 views

As I try to get excited about the upcoming NA LCS.. I just can't. The current format seems boring and to be honest doesn't seem to be well supported by Riot. First, let's start with the boring:

  1. Why is the league format head to head, everybody plays everybody until the end of the season then we pick teams for the playoffs? So BORING! It's like watching the PAC 12 or BIG 12 in football, you couldn't find a more boring season. Take advice from just about every other sport in America, create divisions, make teams win their division to advance to the playoffs. Introduce wild card games, make the games more exciting. For example in the NFL you play every team in your division twice, once at the beginning of the year and once at the end. You need to win your division so those games at the beginning of the year matter big time. There is excitement right off the bat to be competitive and to win.

  2. Having divisions will build drama over time, teams will start to look at each other as a rivalry which brings a higher level of entertainment and ultimately profit.

  3. Having divisions helps grow the brand, people will follow the league games closer which ultimately builds the marketability of the teams.

I could go on and on but you get the idea, let's put some excitement into the NA LCS, look to other successful sports in the US for ideas. Keep in mind that the US is very different from the rest of the world when it comes from sports, learn from it.

As for the second issue, why isn't there a league website where I can go to that gives me information about the teams and the players? We are less than 2 weeks before the season begins and we basically have nothing but a schedule. Who are the new teams, what's their background? Who are the owners, what are their colors, who are the players, where do they come from? Aren't we supposed to be marketing here, and really,. what the heck is the LCS and why in the heck do we call it the 'Spring Split'? What are we splitting? These are the questions I get from my more sports oriented friends who can't really find any information about what the premier professional LoL league in NA is. We need better representation here.

It just seems to me that with so much on the line, with owners now paying 6 figures for teams that better support for the league would be in place.

11 Comments

PabloMaster543211/7/2016, 12:55:41 AM1 votes

Yeah the only team i have "fun" watching is tsm, because it is what the name is team solo mid and i would say about 80% of the games bjersen carries so its funny.

TurquoiseYoshi1/7/2016, 1:24:38 AM1 votes

Regions are divisions. Mind = Blown. Pac-12 has divisions. The Big 12 schedule is anything but boring. Honestly, it's more exciting and skill-based. If you mess up, you've screwed yourself out of a conference championship. You do understand that you don't play division opponents at specific times in the year, right? You do know that you play them whenever the schedule says you are (look at Atlanta-Carolina this year, for example)? The LCS playoffs are literally a replica of the NFC/AFC playoffs.

You have to check 3rd party websites for that for now. I think Riot will have that feature up soon.

It's splitting the season. Spring and Summer.

I mean, I understand that you don't like some of the differences, but you have to actually understand everything before judging it.

Also, 7 figures. Gravity was bought for 1 million.

Hellmet1/7/2016, 2:13:22 AM1 votes

I could care less about Korea or EU, I'm talking about the NA league. Trust me, the Big 12 format is terribly boring and it's why the Pac 12 went away from it. Pac 12 use to use that format, it's old and boring. Having divisions is far more entertaining which is why the NFL has 8 of them, baseball has 6 of them, even the MLS has 2 of them. Basically all the major sports have them and yes, you do play division opponents at scheduled times.

Furthermore, each of those leagues have their own website, www.nfl.com, www.mlb.com, www.mlssoccer.com etc. Heck, even the NASCAR site is miles ahead of what LCS provides.

Riot and the LCS need to get serious about this, that don't need to make it up from scratch though. Look and see what the most successful sports leagues are doing and copy it.

B00B001/7/2016, 8:28:15 AM1 votes

except Worlds got more views than the American World Series NBA final and NHL final, soooo think they know what they are doing dear chap, with an expected turnover of 465bln, up from 165bln.

Hellmet1/7/2016, 3:24:17 PM1 votes

I'm not criticizing the world finals, similar in that i'm not criticizing the World Cup. What I am criticizing is the actual league in NA. Huge difference there.. and yes the World finals had a lot of viewers... but how many did the NA league have on a week by week basis? That's what I would like to see improve.

prozak821/7/2016, 6:39:07 PM1 votes

divisions are pointless when you only have 10 teams. what are you gonna have 5 divisions of 2 teams?

Hellmet1/8/2016, 4:36:55 AM1 votes

2 divisions, 5 teams in each division. As the scene grows in NA you add more teams and expand the divisions. You don't have to make this stuff up from scratch, just look at every other successful sports league in the US.

ZT Xperimentor1/8/2016, 4:49:12 AM1 votes

More or less, I agree.

Hellmet1/8/2016, 6:06:03 AM1 votes

I didn't say expand it now, I said as it grows over time. The players will come in time. The point of it is as exactly what I said in the original post, it's to build excitement, get people actually interested in what's going on and build a healthy rivalry between some of these teams. Right now, for all intensive purposes the only 2 teams that anybody really knows is TSM and C9, when they play each other it's fun to watch.. beyond that it's waiting for the entire year to see what they do in Worlds... that's boring.

Make the changes to make the NA league more exciting, build the league, build the players and then you might actually have a chance at worlds. As it stands now there is zero chance for the these teams because let's be honest here, the NA league sucks. The competition is low because the format doesn't lend it's self to better competition from a organizational point of view. It's not fun to watch, it's not exciting. They need to market this thing better, they need to run the league in a format that the US tends to love.

I'm hoping that with some new owners coming in that actually know 'sports' that some of these changes will take place. Hopefully Rick Fox, Cuban etc can turn this thing into something widely successful in the US.