Introducing the 2024 North American Challengers League

TL;DR

• The 2024 North American Challengers League (NACL) kicks off on January 20 with a new Fearless Draft format.
• NACL Regular Season and Playoff matches will be broadcast live after each LCS matchday. While NACL Qualifiers will also take place over the weekend, broadcast coverage will be aired during the week.
• The inaugural Tier 2 Americas Tournament later this year, featuring top teams from developmental leagues across North America, Brazil, and Latin America.

Applications for the 2024 NACL Qualifiers are now open! Apply to compete HERE.

Welcome back for another season of North American Challengers League action! The NACL is primed for its best year ever, with format changes, broadcast adjustments, and a cross-regional Tier 2 tournament headlining the major upgrades.

In 2024, we’re doubling down on our efforts to create a sustainable and successful NA talent development pipeline while presenting a compelling broadcast that makes it easier than ever to be an NACL fan. Our pivot in 2023 towards a more open competition firmly connected NA’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 ecosystems, creating new opportunities for regional talent development and outside investment from organizations like Disguised, our most recent NACL Champions. In collaboration with Rally Cry, our partnerships with Turo, Subway, Verizon, and Samsung SSD — along with direct support from fans through Twitch subscriptions and ad revenue — set a strong financial foundation for the league that we’ll continue to build on this year.

The following ten teams will be competing in the 2024 NACL Spring Split, beginning Saturday, January 20:

• Area of Effect
• Cincinnati Fear
• Disguised
• FlyQuest Challengers
• LiT Esports
• Maryville University
• Mirage Alliance
• Supernova
• Team Liquid Challengers
• Wildcard

2024 NACL UPDATES

New Competitive Format

Starting this spring, the NACL regular season match format will change from a double round robin best-of-two to a single round robin best-of-three using Fearless Draft. The rules of Fearless Draft are simple: Beginning in the second game of a best-of-three series, teams will be prohibited from picking champions they’ve already played in the series. This draft restriction is exclusive to each team — for example, if Team A picks Garen in Game 1, Team B can still pick Garen in Game 2.

After its successful launch in China’s League of Legends Development League (LDL), the Fearless Draft format has shown clear benefits for leagues that are focused on talent development. It pushes players to strengthen their champion pools and forces a greater diversity of champion picks to keep the meta refreshing, making each competitive game feel more dynamic and surprising.

Fearless Draft will be the new pick/ban standard across the entire NACL ecosystem — including regular season, playoff, qualifier, and promotion tournament matches. Since Fearless Draft is a relatively new format in the competitive space, we’ll be closely monitoring feedback from fans, pros, and teams. So make sure to let us know what you think!

Broadcast Adjustments and Co-streaming

One of our primary goals for NACL in 2024 is to create a more meaningful connection between LCS fans and North America’s talent development ecosystem. To that end, we’ve scheduled NACL regular season and playoff matches to begin their live broadcast at the conclusion of each LCS gameday. The most hype matchups of the day will lead the NACL broadcast, casted by some of the best NA talent in the business.

Alongside our main broadcast, we’re happy to welcome back NACL Watch Parties! We’ve refined the process this season so that each NACL organization will be able to officially partner with one Watch Party host. Beyond that, interested individuals can apply for Watch Party permissions (space is limited). As always, all NACL Watch Parties must abide by the co-streaming policy outlined in the NACL Rulebook.

Interested in hosting a NACL Watch Party? Apply HERE!

In scheduling NACL Qualifier matches, we aimed to balance player availability with the reality of our busy weekend broadcast schedule. After careful consideration, we’ve elected to conduct all NACL Qualifier matches on weekends to best accommodate our players. However, those matches will be broadcasted during the week on the NACL Twitch channel, keeping our weekend schedule from becoming overstuffed while providing more dedicated main channel coverage of the Qualifiers. We hope that these weekday broadcasts will satisfy fans who are looking for fresh esports content when the LCS and NACL are on cooldown.

Applications for the 2024 NACL Qualifiers are now open! Apply to compete HERE.

Americas Tier 2 Tournament

As we seek to create more key NACL moments for fans and pros alike, we’re thrilled to confirm the debut of a long-gestating dream: An international tournament for Tier 2 teams! Our first-ever Tier 2 Americas Tournament will gather top teams from NA, LATAM, and Brazil for a multi-day event. We’re working closely with our friends in CBLOL & LLA to create a signature tournament across the Americas’ developmental ecosystems that ignites regional fandom and creates a new aspirational goal for players.

The inaugural Americas Tier 2 Tournament will be held later this year — full details on dates, qualification, and format are coming soon!

2024 NACL SPRING SCHEDULE

NACL Spring Dates

Regular Season

• Week 1: Jan. 20 - 21
• Week 2: Jan. 27 - 28
• Week 3: Feb. 2 - 4
• Week 4: Feb. 9 - 11
• Week 5: Feb. 17 - 18
• Week 6: Feb. 24 - 25
• Week 7: Mar. 1 - 3
• Week 8: Mar. 8 - 10

• Week 1: Mar. 14 - 17
• Week 2: Mar. 21 - 24
• Finals: Mar. 29

• Week 1: Jan. 20 - 21
• Week 2: Jan. 27 - 28
• Week 3: Feb. 3 - 4
• Week 4: Feb. 10 - 11
• Week 5: Feb. 17 - 18

• Week 1: Feb. 24 - 25
• Week 2: Mar. 2 - 3
• Week 3: Mar. 9 -10
• Week 4: Mar. 16 - 17
• Week 5: Mar. 23 - 24

• Apr. 2 - 9