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Taking e-sports to the next level - an idea

Volar·10/19/2014, 3:55:27 PM·2 votes·851 views

This may be way off base, but as I watched the finals I couldn't help but think about how much of the event emulated a super bowl or a finals in a large sporting event (obviously, hence e-sports).. Then I started thinking about what in professional sport changed over time to make it all more competitive and ultimately more entertaining.

the answer: Drafts

Listen guys, I'm sure some of you all liked the faceroll that SSW has done to all of the teams, but I could have easily picked them to win back in the quarter finals. If e-sports is going to progress they need to find a way to make the teams more... fair? even? We want to see epic battles not watch a team steam roll every other team.

I think a yearly draft is easy to manage.. throw all teams up in the air at the end of the year. Maybe allow each team to keep 2 players each year for those hard core followings, and the other three are automatically released. Have a yearly draft where managers of the team and those two "legacy" players pick their teammates much like the NFL or NBA draft works. Instead of contracts I think that could be an alternative.

They do this immediately after the finals each year so the newly formed teams can begin working together. If a player drops from the team they are ineligible to play competitively for two years... this would help prevent people from making a decision to leave because they do not like their team. Draft selection is based off of the previous years record.

Listen.. i'm not inventing something new or something revolutionary. This system works in real sports where billions of dollars are traded each year. Why couldn't it work for e-sports? the popularity is only gaining, and what company better to pioneer this even further than Riot.

Anyway, just a thought.. I think its at least worth a discussion.

3 Comments

Volar10/19/2014, 4:14:11 PM1 votes

Another thing to consider... Trades and backup player positions "practice squads" - always allow each team to have a backup for each position. This can be done after the draft somehow and maybe how "amateurs" get into the professional scene... Play as a backup and maybe they are called up to play because either the main person was cut or dropped or not playing up to par and moved down to the practice squad.

Just some brainstorming.

Challenges I see to all of this is:

  1. mostly younger kids some in school - makes it hard for them to have to live on the other side of the world to play.

  2. if someone is cut what would happen to them... Free agency? Banned for a year (wouldn't seem fair)

  3. what about work visas ... Not sure if that could complicate world wide drafts

  4. language barriers of being traded to a country where you do not speak the native tounge

Not saying the idea is perfect there are a lot of negatives, but wanted to see if it's even worth a discussion.

chuybakka10/21/2014, 12:43:26 AM1 votes

I'm going to vote for #2. And I think you already gave your answer as to why. The teams are not in easy to reach locations. Some are in California while others are in China. Even if you were to make it so that only regional drafts took place you would still hit the barrier of moving not being totally viable for each player. The only reason that the NFL can even get away with drafts is that it is only the United States and each player gets payed so much that they can just go pay cash for a house if they get traded.

Hell even if they are are traded after just buying a house they can just get another and wait to sell the first one. Where with LoL the players are living in a shared house for each team. This is not only because of it allowing for better teamwork and practice but believe it or not most pro League players don't make most of their money from playing professionally. Most of the money comes from streaming and coaching.

So while it would make certain parts of the pro League experience more interesting it would ultimately cause more issues than good.