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Looking ahead: NA and EU LCS format changes for Summer Split 2016

Riot·12/8/2015, 7:55:17 PM·4 votes·130,263 views

TL;DR: As we promised last time we talked about changes, we’re back with more news on bigger format shifts to the NA and EU LCS for Summer Split 2016.

We’ve weighed up a lot of factors closely over the last split and thought about what makes a good broadcast, tests the skills of players and teams and creates an entertaining experience for fans. As a result, we’ll be taking a big step in the summer split with NA LCS shifting to a double Best-of-3 format while EU LCS will transition to a double Best-of-2 format. The 2016 Spring Split will remain Best-of-1 as we staff up for the increased hours of the Summer Split. Read on for more details about how we reached this decision and how it’ll work.

Why make this change?

Every season we actively look at the LCS format and schedule to see how well it's meeting our goal of creating highly competitive and extremely entertaining matches. For the 2015 season, it led to changes like eliminating Super Weeks and extending playoffs over multiple weeks rather than one jam-packed weekend.

During the course of this past season, we took a careful look at how the current LCS Bo1 format was meeting our dual goals of creating great entertainment value and providing the best competition - testing players and teams to the best of their abilities and equipping them for international competition. We want to create a fair and entertaining league experience - one in which the highest level of League of Legends play is showcased and rewarded, but is also fun to watch. Ultimately, we felt that we could do better on both counts.

A Best-of-1 (Bo1) format has some very clear strengths from an entertainment standpoint.  Every team plays every day, meaning any fan can tune in on any LCS day and know that their team is playing.  It has a very predictable schedule, games are roughly the same length, and fans know generally when a specific game will happen.  It also has a very steady flow; you’re rarely waiting long for a high interest matchup to happen. Looking back, showcasing every team on each day was an important part of growing the league from its infancy when team brands weren’t nearly as strong as they are today.

The Bo1 format also has some clear drawbacks.  For many of us,  Bo1s don’t feel as satisfying as a longer series - due to their short nature, there’s not as strong a feeling of victory when a team wins as there would be with a more extended series. Teams currently don’t get a lot of practice in a competitive best-of series which may affect their ability to adapt mid-series in the LCS post-season and the knockout stages of MSI and Worlds. Beyond this, the Bo1 format means more time between games because more teams are transitioning to and from the stage - we’d generally like to decrease time between games in 2016.  

Moving towards Bo2 and Bo3 formats creates some immediate competitive value for players and teams (although each format has different advantages).

Bo2s share some of the consistency of the Bo1 format (a predictable and regular series with fixed slots for each match to begin) but offers the chance for adaptation between games, which helps teams prep for international competition. Each team gets to play each side once, and total number of games played is the same for all teams. Each game is therefore meaningful and rewarded with a point, forcing stronger teams to win more consistently to create separation within the standings. A drawback with Bo2s is the possibility of 1-1 ties - this preserves tension for the playoffs but can feel unsatisfying in the regular season.

Bo3s provide a lot of competitive benefits, including rigorous competition between teams due to the sheer number of games. In common with Bo1s, it’s also emotionally satisfying to watch as a fan since there’s a clear winner at the end of every series. A drawback is that each matchup between teams may seem less fair because of the number of games on each side and total number of games played. Like Bo2s, Bo3s could also offer less popular and/or low interest matchups for an extended time.

Switching to this new Double Bo2 and Bo3 formats brings other challenges, including a more demanding schedule for players and more resources needed to support extended broadcasts. Ultimately when we looked at the individual demands of the EU and NA LCS we felt that the benefits from an entertainment and competitive standpoint outweighed these concerns.

Why do EU and NA have different formats? Why not choose the “better” format and have both leagues use it?

As we discussed formats with the League Ops teams from both regions, we came up with pros and cons for both Bo2 and Bo3 formats. Both regions agreed that Bo1 no longer served our best interests, and given the pros and cons of both Bo2 and Bo3, we decided to try out both and leave ourselves open to pivot in the future. Given the prevalence of Bo2 in many European sports leagues (specifically soccer…sorry, football), we decided to implement Bo2 format in a region where ties are both understood and accepted in sports culture. In NA, where there’s a regional sport tradition of avoiding ties, we chose to implement Bo3. We’re honestly not sure which format will be better; we’re going to be monitoring a variety of levers throughout the transition, and will review at the end of the 2016 season.  

How will this work? Will games run concurrently? Will they all be played in studio?

We’ll be announcing exact schedules as we get closer to the Summer Split, but here’s how it’ll generally work:

In the EU LCS, we’ll be keeping regular season matches to two days (Thursday-Friday), but moving to a two-stream broadcast. We’ll run matches concurrently on our second stream as well as the main stage, giving fans the chance to choose which matchup they want to view, watch both at the same time (double monitors or second screens FTW) or catch them on VODs - viewable spoiler-free at www.lolesports.com. There are still many details to iron out, so stay tuned for more details.

This is how the schedule will look in EU from the summer split of 2016:

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Over in the NA LCS, we’ll be extending the broadcast to three days a week (Friday-Saturday-Sunday). We will run two Bo3s on a single stream on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll be featuring two simultaneous streams. As in EU, second stream matches will be hosted on a separate stage.

Here’s how the schedule will look in NA from the summer split of 2016: 

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Why can’t this go into effect in the Spring Split of 2016? Why make the change mid-season?

Making a format change this significant requires some ramp-up and planning time both for Riot and for the teams and players who have to prepare for a new and more demanding schedule.

Does this mean more casters/broadcast teams/studios? How will Riot support the additional games?

Upping the number of games we produce per week in Berlin and in Los Angeles definitely requires a significant investment in  resources - from more people behind the camera to more on-air talent demands. We think it’s worth it. We’re already planning for how we support a heavier broadcast schedule and will be working hard to ensure a consistent level of quality and experience across all of the games we produce per week.

We’re excited to introduce these format changes to the NA and EU LCS. We know there’ll be some challenges ahead as we adjust to the new schedules.. It’s not a change we’ve made lightly - we considered feedback from pros, teams and the community before making our decision - but we think that the new-look NA and EU LCS 2016 formats will give teams valuable competitive experience and increase the level of entertainment for fans watching from home.

 

200 Comments

Raggethorman12/8/2015, 9:37:47 PM36 votes

I really don't like the fact that you will have to choose between 2 matches;

  • First of all, the most popular teams will have more viewers meaning that the smaller teams will not be able to rapidly create a fan base.
  • Secondly, I DON'T want to choose, I want to be able to sit back and enjoy a single stream, not switch back between the 2 streams. I don't like the idea of missing a good play or missing the jokes of the casters. I don't want to be "punished" because I prefer one of the team or a caster.
  • Finally, although I'm have a double screen, my internet connection might not be enough to support both streams. Even though, the idea of following in details 2 matches feels impossible to me and it forces me to choose one referencing to my two previous points.

Speaking of the format and the schedule it feels like RIOT is sacrificing EU over NA, giving them the week-ends and the best format [in my opinion].

I really like the transparency of RIOT and the fact that they want to change things but it doesn't feel right to me.

Meanie4012/8/2015, 9:25:03 PM35 votes

There's one last thing they need to promise ... staggered game starts between the two streams, so we don't have to listen to 15 or more minutes of pointless "analysis" between each game or match.

Troldrum12/8/2015, 8:32:46 PM24 votes

First, I like the bo3 format for western teams. It makes games more thrilling, comebacks more likely to happen and gives the opportunity to pull out some crazy stuff in one of the games. But as an EU LCS fan, I'm a bit disappointed. Bo2, that's weird. Well, as this is only my opinion, and some poeple could like that format, but why does NA get more games overall and even more important, the weekend spot? Why not give EU atleast 1 day at the weekend, so everyone is able to see it? For me this situation seems to be a bit unfair item 3070

ghalia199512/8/2015, 9:45:41 PM17 votes

I could post a long rant and complain for hours about this but I'm gonna short and get right to the point. I only have one question. WHY ? why would EU have BO2s ? What even is a BO2 ? So you're telling me that the players that practice long and hard and us the viewiers who wait all week for the games are supposed to be ok with the fact that there could be ties ? What even is the hype anymore ? what's the point in watching even ? So we're supposed to wait all week for origenvs fnatic or any other big matchup and get super hyped and then be like oh ok it's a tie? This goes completely against the competitive spirit of league and it pushes EU players to just go to NA. Riot you might aswell just cancel EU. Why does NA get BO3s ? and EU doesn't?and please that football excuse is so pathetic it wasn't even funny. Why does EU get two days and NA gets three days and the weekend for that matter ? It's either everyone gets a BO3 or no one gets a BO3.

T RexHasTinyArms12/8/2015, 10:05:12 PM16 votes

I'm really glad to see the switch Rito. Thank you for giving us a bit more interesting play in NA/EU, and hopefully this will help make some of the international tournaments a bit better and less stompy (still not sure we stand much of a chance, but I think the QoL is better for NA/EU pros so it makes sense). I do have a couple questions:

  1. You mention multiple stages, how far away from each other, will they be, and have you considered sound booths? Players can still interact w/ fans, even w/ sound booths for the games, but they are definitely needed for high level competition if the teams are near each other and have even a remote chance of hearing calls being made in another game. No one is going to really get confused about which game the calls are in, but if there are two games w/ a Kass in them and simultaneous team fights, just hearing someone yell to target Kass near you may give a slight hesitation before you follow your team's calls. In league even fractions of a second can be a big difference in a fight, so that hesitation could be huge (think of how it's almost a knee jerk reaction to turn when someone calls your name, even if you know they mean someone else in the room with the same name).

  2. As much as I love it as an NA fan, why no EU games on a weekend day? Hell, even if they just got half of Saturday or Sunday (their streams would be earlier than NA because of the time difference, and you could move one game from NA each day to either Friday or Thursday that doesn't have those EU games anymore to make it even easier to schedule w/out overlap) it would be pretty easy to put at least one "game of the week" or premier match up on a week end day that was easier for EU fans to watch. I love having all the weekend games to myself as an NA fan, but it does mean that the only EU games I tend to watch are the absolute best match ups on the weekday games. If the premier match ups were on the weekend and some of the more middle ground match ups were during the week, I'd probably watch more of them because I have an hour or two at the end of the day and figure "why not watch at least one of the matches played today?" In theory it could get more players watching mid tier match ups, and it could be really interesting.

Edit: Didn't realize the headsets were that good at noise cancelling. I thought I'd seen a post/tweet from a pro or caster talking about players being able to hear the crowd through the head sets during a discussion of the merits of booths like in the LCK. For some reason I thought they said you could hear the crowd, but it wasn't the kind of distraction that really effected your play bc you got used to it and it was just background noise at some point (thus part of why some armature players struggle w/ adjusting to lan events at first). Thank you for the correction, that's good to know it won't mess w/ game integrity.

Drallig Warrior12/8/2015, 9:03:43 PM9 votes

I'm not angry any more. I'm just sad that riot thought that Bo2 in EU would be acceptable. If it isn't acceptable in NA, then the same applies in EU.

Strangerlizard12/8/2015, 9:56:39 PM9 votes

Having the NA games on the weekend and EU's during the week was already favouritism at play. Now the number of games will swing towards NA too. A line between profit and sporting integrity needs to be drawn.

TloS Banana12/8/2015, 9:42:30 PM7 votes

I think i can accept the BO2 in EU, but it should be 3 points for a win, 1 point for a remis and 0 for a loss. If a team earns 1 point for each game it will feel nearly the same as before. If a team earns 3 points for a win, it is more rewarding for a team to win and it creates more action and pressure for teams to perform.

Arcus812/8/2015, 9:24:31 PM6 votes

I mostly like all of this. But how about instead of starting the matches on both streams at the same time, stagger the start times. That way, we can flip to stream 2 in the downtime between matches on stream 1 and catch a bit of everything, just like flipping between two football games on tv. You could even show replays of sweet plays from the opposite stream during downtime or loading screens, etc

Beam of Love12/8/2015, 9:14:15 PM6 votes

I am very angry that Riot ignores the fact that "Best of 2" is not a format that actually exists. It's just 2 games. There is no "best of" with even numbers, it goes against the definition of the "best of" format. item 3124 item 3124 item 3124

Kumeron12/9/2015, 12:12:46 AM5 votes

WHAT ABOUT FANTASY LCS! :(

Iladio12/9/2015, 3:57:23 PM4 votes

Hello, i'm really disapointing by the fact than EU has BO2, this means one less game per match, at the end of a split it will be a difference in experience, even for a regular LCS player.

I mean it's closing the fact of "sacrifying" a game to test a comp, because if it goes wrong the best you can have is just one point, meanwhile with a BO3 you are still able to win 2 games and have 3 points with a more classical comp.

Imo this is reducing competitivity of EU..

Hope this will be read, even if too late to change BO2 in 3 i think BO3 are still the best format for both regions.

gubigubi12/8/2015, 10:27:53 PM4 votes

I loved all of this until I saw the dual broadcast :l I hope this works out well because I think best of 2 or 3 is definitely the way to go.

Simulcrash12/8/2015, 11:59:06 PM4 votes

I think this is a good move so teams can gain some series experience. As for the formats, my initial guess i that I like the Bo2 better . Part of this is the fact I like to route for the underdogs and in a Bo3, upsets are less likely to occur. I am excited to see how it shapes up.

xSquishyTurtlex12/9/2015, 6:37:28 AM3 votes

How does this effect the Fantasy League system? Since the fantasy League includes both NA and EU teams and players? Does this mean all NA players will score more points each week or will EU points be calculated differently in order to balance he change in format? Seems like NA players will get an extra game each week to score points!

Platypus King12/8/2015, 11:37:01 PM3 votes

I don't understand why there is going to be two concurrent streams going? No explanation for the reasoning on that at all. Are you just trying to cut down on the time the teams have to spend in the studio?

Count4516/2/2016, 4:23:42 PM2 votes

The best of 2 or 3 is not the issue, Streaming them at the same time is Stupid on every level.

Hellbent12/8/2015, 10:17:53 PM2 votes

So does that mean this is our last split for combined EU/NA in LCS Fantasy?

Blind Minion12/8/2015, 11:20:26 PM2 votes

I'm guessing the streams will not begin staggered; however, unless the games on both streams are the same length, they will inherently stagger themselves.

JumpWar12/9/2015, 10:29:05 AM2 votes

Just a reminder that EU and NA have been switching between who gets the weekend for the past few season.

The Norwegian12/9/2015, 12:02:39 PM2 votes

CONTINUING SALT FROM REDDIT THREAD, THIS IS MORE BULLSHIT THAN THE TIME JAX USED TO BE ABLE TO DODGE TURRET SHOTS

BossGarfield2112/9/2015, 2:01:44 PM2 votes

2 games at the same time is a very, very bad idea. doesn't make any sense to me

xV2x12/12/2015, 3:29:18 AM2 votes

I'm fine with this. Just think. This means we're one step closer to being a TRUE sport to watch. I mean a tiny step but it's sumthing! Lol think about it. How many college and NFL channels r running all at once? They've got like 5 games all going at one time. Just think back when football was small? I bet it was all on one radio station and then moved on to 2 or sumthing and people were just as flustered about it. I'm just waiting til every team gets they're own stage or every state gets their own league team, oh man! U think that could happen?!

TurquoiseYoshi12/8/2015, 8:31:05 PM2 votes

As much as the idea hurts me, I kinda have to accept it. A few questions: Will you make it simple to watch both streams at the same time, or do I have to figure it out myself? Can we get starting times and (projected) ending times on the schedules? Can we get an overall schedule of the weeks? It looks like NA will play more matches overall. Will the EU and NA matches ever be simultaneous on Fridays?