TL;DR

• We’re back on weekends! The 2024 LCS Spring Split begins Saturday, January 20 at the Riot Games Arena LA as part of Opening Week Presented by Mastercard.
• All LCS matches will be played on the live patch, allowing fans to immediately incorporate professional picks and perspectives into their own games.
• We’ve streamlined the LCS broadcast by cutting the downtime between matches in half, getting to gameplay faster while reorganizing the presentation of analyst desk content.
• LCS viewers will be able to directly interact with the broadcast in new ways! We’re exploring more engaging uses for fan voting, chat highlights, channel points, and more!

Get your tickets for all LCS matches at the Riot Games Arena LA HERE beginning at 10 am PT Wednesday, January 10!

New year, new energy! The LCS is back and bursting out the gate with revamped rosters, compelling matchups and broadcast upgrades set to make the league’s 12th season its most exciting yet.

The momentum is already building. Across the league, teams are tapping promising young players to fill key roles. NRG, fresh off an outstanding run at Worlds 2023, kept its dynamic core together to mount an LCS title defense. Historic heavyweights Cloud9 and Team Liquid have reloaded with proven talent, eager to regain their standing atop the LCS hierarchy. And newcomer Shopify Rebellion will make its league debut this spring, hoping to capture the first-timer championship magic of NRG’s summer campaign.

All LCS roads converge at the Riot Games Arena LA, beginning with Opening Week Presented by Mastercard (Jan. 20-21). Fans who attend the matches in person will get unique swag each day, and gain access to the LCS Opening Week After Party on January 20 featuring games, food, music, team booths and activities.

With everything we have planned, strap in — 2024 is going to be quite a ride. Let’s get into it!

2024 LCS SPRING UPDATES

Competitive Format

The 2024 LCS Spring Split will consist of an eight-team double round robin regular season, followed by a six-team postseason where the top four seeds are afforded double elimination. Like previous years, all regular season matches are best-of-one, transitioning to best-of-five for playoffs. The Spring Split champion and runner-up will represent the LCS at the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational in Chengdu, China.

As Commissioner MarkZ already shared, the LCS is back on weekends, with matches taking place at the Riot Games Arena LA on Saturdays and Sundays (and Fridays during Super Weeks). With eight teams in the LCS, the Spring Split regular season will run for six weeks, with four best-of-ones per matchday that begin at 12 pm PT. Because the LCS starts its season in line with the other global leagues, we’ve added in a two-week break between Weeks 4-5 so that the schedule finishes closer to MSI. This also minimizes the weeks of studio overlap with VCT: Americas production.

Our decision to maintain best-of-ones for Spring Split was made after considering the weight of other changes we’re instituting this season. Here, best-of-ones act as a control variable — we have a very strong understanding of where viewership starts, ebbs, and flows under this regular season format, which enables us to track the impact of the other changes and how they are being received by fans. As always, the format is always up for discussion and never set in stone.

Live Patch Play

To help create a more tangible connection between pro play and the wider League of Legends community, all LCS regular season matches will be played on the live game patch. That’s right: When a new patch drops, the LCS will be a must-watch for the latest professional takes on the meta!

Competing on the live patch is a change we hope will invigorate both fans and players. Fans can take anything they see on stage directly into their own matches, while pros will no longer need to practice two versions of the game — plus, they’ll be able to shine on a global stage with the latest big brain builds and strategies!

To execute this choice in a competitive setting, we’ll be taking firm steps to protect the players by ensuring that one Tournament Realm is always updated to the PBE state for effective practice. We’re confident in the balance team’s ability to ship thoughtful patches that respect pro play and supply speedy hotfixes for fringe cases of overpowered strategies. And as a reminder, live patch play will only take place during the regular season — playoffs will still be subject to a locked patch.

As we implement live patch play, we’ll closely monitor the pro player experience and take notes so that other leagues may follow in our steps.

Reduced Match Downtime

One of the most consistent pieces of broadcast feedback we hear from fans is simple: They want to watch the game, faster! Data shows that fans tend to tune out after the Nexus explodes, and stay tuned out until the next game appears on-screen.

In reimagining how to produce the LCS broadcast so that it smoothly flows from match to match, we’ve elected to pre-record the drafts for regular season matches. Here’s the process: LCS teams will complete and record their drafts in the practice rooms during the previous game. Once the draft is complete, they’ll head backstage to wait until the stage match ends. Then, while the teams take the stage and conduct tech and ready checks, we’ll air their recorded draft for the casters’ live reactions as usual.

With this change, the broadcast can divert more resources to match-focused content and free the analyst desk to publish their creative segments where it makes most sense. Our analysts will still be at the studio every day producing the LCS preshow and postshow, with some postgame coverage where appropriate. But now, freed from the restrictions of a traditional analyst desk, they can focus on creating content with our production teams without the usual time or available personnel constraints.

Like live patch play, the new drafting presentation will only be applicable to regular season matches, shifting back to live on-stage drafting in the postseason.

Fan Interactivity

Let’s face it: Compared to other styles of streaming, esports broadcasts have historically struggled with direct fan interaction. Watching live esports has always provided a sense of community among your fellow viewers in chat, but that relationship is siloed away from the streamer. It’s a massive missed opportunity for esports broadcasts like the LCS, and we want to change that.

Starting in 2024, the LCS is going to begin exploring ways to utilize tools that will deepen fan investment and promote engagement with the live broadcast. Polls and predictions are good starting points, but we want to go further. Imagine if fans could vote on which lane the broadcast follows post-draft, or select which player stays on stage for the postgame interview. There’s so much untapped potential here, and we’re ready to examine it all.

Interactivity is a two-way street. In building more ways for fans to connect with the LCS, we also need to create more avenues to connect with our fans. We’re renewing our commitment to communication and transparency in 2024, so expect a regular cadence of updates from us in the form of AMAs, blog posts, videos and more. We are ready to make changes to better the league, and that starts with fan input.

Case in point: Co-streaming! We’re excited to share the LCS with more of the world, and will be providing news about the 2024 program very soon.

2024 LCS SPRING SCHEDULE

LCS Spring Dates

Regular Season

• Week 1 (Opening Week): Jan. 20-21
• Week 2: Jan. 27-28
• Week 3 (Super Week): Feb. 2-4
• Week 4: Feb. 10-11
• Week 5: Mar. 2-3
• Week 6 (Super Week): Mar. 8-10

Playoffs

• Week 1: Mar. 14-17
• Week 2: Mar. 23-24
• Spring Finals: Mar. 30-31

As always, you can watch all LCS matches on Twitch, YouTube and lolesports.com. To stay up-to-date on all LCS news, give us a follow on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok.