Riot partnering with B1G, ESPN, and other netweorks.

Kaligary·2/20/2017, 4:05:02 AM·1 votes·1,211 views

I'm a little worried about our community. Obviously, since League of Legends has been shouted as an "E-Sport" networks have been looking into the revenue of league. This of course will draw a lot of attention since League produces so much revenue. What I'm worried about, is if riot were to partner with these folks, and give them access to how some things go, could we eventually see the say... Leagues turn to mainstream? I don't really know how to put it. I just don't want to see Fox, Espn, or BTN take over streaming and such and completely ruin the experience of it all.

Thoughts, opinions, the sweet reassurance of Riot that this will never happen?

9 Comments

III BAKURYU III 2/20/2017, 4:30:30 AM3 votes

I'm not disagreeing or agreeing but I am confused about what you mean ? " I just don't want to see Fox, Espn, or BTN take over streaming and such and completely ruin the experience of it all".

How so? Riot is trying to branch with some of these companies and other "sports" that have been around for 50+ years so they can stay afloat for the years to come also.

I can't predict the future but I can see both sides of the coin, maybe clearer on the benefits than the cons of the argument. Riot needs/want sponsors; it's a way to make money and not just solely off viewers from their own league games. Let's say the NBA sponsors League(Riot); Money income for the NBA, league(Riot) and the sponsor which for the NBA could be Sprite, and/or Nike which instead of footwear it could be hand or wrist wear so the pros/civilians can play League without as much pain in their wrists etc, similar to a baseball glove from say The MLB.

A few years ago I was an avid wrestling fan, I watched WWE, TNA etc but WWE had more than what TNA had at the time and still do because of sponsors which again generates $, between the two companies more people will recall or think of something from say WWE before they do TNA because of the sponsors and the more attention they get.
Sure WWE does some weird commercials between their shows like the KFC Chicken commercial etc, but that comes with business side of things.
A few months ago I recalled a XXX Movie trailer that aired a few times during the playoffs but did that "change" League or Riot for the worse? Maybe, I don't know what it cost Riot to have that or for that film company on how much potential $ they lost but it was a gamble that's necessary honestly.

I love League, Riot, LCS but times are coming ahead where they need to start thinking about the bigger picture! They can't just rely on people/viewers to watch their games because "league is fun" but for how much longer ? Hell 30% of the community are already tired of League but with sponsors, commercials, ads it can help create buzz around the products to buy interest into League and the future of the product.

Have you ever wanted to know about certain player trades,movements,certain players retiring ? Most of the articles that I myself found out about certain stuff was from ESPN.com and not League itself! For a company that are in the dark and are "lone wolves" they do a piss poor job keeping their fans up 2 date with their own League.

A regular player who has NO interest watching the LCS but instead just plays the game, but they LOVE X product that sponsors the NBA, NFL etc etc they might see a commercial with say Bjergsen in a Burgerking commercial and may think " Wow, he plays the same game I do and is famous, has his own commercial etc" it brings attention to both sides of the coin.

Great topic and have a good one!

Kaligary2/20/2017, 7:02:48 AM2 votes

The thing I'm mostly worried about is censorship, and paid viewing. Like, I get it, right? Pay to watch would boast revenue ten fold. Like NFL Sunday ticket. I'm more concerned that these bigger companies may abuse their sponsored position for esports and move it from "hey, we're live and streaming worlds" to "you gotta pay 75$ to watch all of todays matches. As far as censorship goes, when you start pulling in rules and regulations it makes the scene less engaging for fans. I know NCAA is no pro scene. But if a player celebrates a td, he gets penalized for it.

Last year at worlds one of the casters brought this up. The whole crap talking between pkayers and teams and fans ect ect. He said in moderation this was healthy for the competitive side of the sport. I agree. But wouldn't it be a problem concerning an outside source? Say someone like Fox, or espn seeing this and censoring it because they want it to be family friendly?

It's not just the stream service, and the censorship that worries me either. It's also the players. Once Riot starts partnering with more and more sponsors and eventually becomes reliant on said sponsors then they basically sell the rights to say "Hey! You can or can not do this, or we will stop giving you money!"

On the surfave, people see riot as greedy. This is entirely false. Riot has possibly the most fair system going for them. They care about their players, their game, and what they've built over the years. This much can be seen from their support team. I mean they got mad because an ISP was bottlenecking players internet speds purposefully, and they pursued it! Most companies would shrug that off. Riot cares deeply. This is why I love Riot. But I'm afraid if they dive too deep with these heavy sponsors it could potentially ruin the LCS and the League scene all together.

Miror B2/20/2017, 4:08:38 AM1 votes

The problem is that for esports as a whole to "expand" they kinda have to do this. I personally don't agree with it (as they're essentially making the visual experience p2p), but in a way it kinda makes sense. TV shows don't profit if they don't draw in paying viewers, who pay for cable subscriptions to get their product. Esports kinda continues the trend, only that the companies can also milk the playerbase for profit in the form of skins/cosmetic crap.

R7 Factor2/20/2017, 3:20:17 PM1 votes

Why the fuck would riot partner with big 10?

atomick2/20/2017, 8:32:18 PM1 votes

League of Legends, CS:GO, Overwatch, etc.. making moves with huge franchises is a good thing. The competitions and the future of esports being brought into the mainstream is a good thing. It means longevity for something we all enjoy and more importantly, professionalism to an amateur environment. Everyone's gotta grow up someday, kid. League included. summoner 14