Money muttering resumes as 2024 LCK season starts

The opening day of the League of Legends Champions Korea season was colored by the release of a "joint statement" expressing concerns about teams' financial sustainability within the league.

Players and coaches of Esports teams pose for a photo at the 2024 LCK Spring Opening Media Day at LoL Park in central Seoul on Jan. 10. [NEWS1]

Korea’s top-tier League of Legends teams kicked off the 2024 season on Wednesday at LoL Park in central Seoul, where four teams faced off in the first two matches of the Spring Split.

Nongshim RedForce defeated DRX 2-0 in the first match on Wednesday, and Gen.G bested reigning World Champions T1 2-1 later that night.

It was an opening day colored by the release of a “joint statement” by a group of teams affiliated with the LCK, the League of Legends Champions Korea, expressing teams’ concerns with their financial sustainability within the franchise under Riot Games Korea.

According to the statement, the LCK has failed to grow its business value since undergoing a major restructuring in 2021.

That year, Riot Games discontinued its promotion-relegation system in favor of a “long-term partnership model” meant to ensure teams in the LCK greater stability and mirrored existing systems in China, Europe and North America.

But according to the statement, LCK teams have been paid significantly less than teams in other leagues since joining the franchise.

“[LCK teams have] achieved great achievements in both name and reality since its inception, and the league's viewership, performance and the league's fandom have continued to grow. However, despite this continuous growth, the LCK League Corporation has not grown the business value of the league over the past three years,” according to the statement.

The two-page statement was distributed to press in an email release via a spokesperson claiming to represent LCK teams on Wednesday, just hours before the first match of the 2024 season was set to begin.

It is unclear which of the 10 teams belonging to the LCK actually approved the statement’s release or who specifically the spokesperson represents.

T1, arguably the most successful of the 10-team franchise, was not among the teams who approved the joint statement, according to Tucker Roberts, the President of the Spectacor Gaming division at Comcast Spectacor, the joint owner of T1 along with SK Telecom.

“While many of the points relating to LCK business are legitimate, using the T1 name in a statement we haven't approved is not ok,” Roberts wrote in a post on X.

“There are lots of complexities and we want to have the discussion with Riot like good business partners. We're not trying to hide anything from fans, we just want to honor our colleagues at Riot,” Roberts continued in a separate post.

Roberts said he disagrees with the need for more games, which the statement proposed, saying, “We want to protect our players physical/mental health and help prolong their careers. The LCK players have very little time off with the schedule as is ... it's already a lot on these young men.”

When reached by the Korea JoongAng Daily for comment on the statement, the Korean e-Sports Association, the domestic governing body overseeing Esports, declined to comment.

Riot Games has also declined to comment on the statement but said it is “looking into the matter," according to a communications manager at Riot Games Korea.

The LCK’s opening week continues through Sunday at LoL Park.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]