League of Legends esports players who walked out reach agreement with Riot Games

North American League of Legends esports players who walked out have reached an agreement with Riot Games.

The League Championship Series (LCS) players, represented by the LCSPA, voted last week to walk out after Riot allowed franchises to stop fielding amateur teams in the North American Challengers League (NACL) for the summer. Shortly after the walkout, Riot delayed the original June 1st start of the summer season by two weeks, but said it was also prepared to cancel the entire summer season — which would disqualify LCS players from the annual end-of-season Worlds competition — if the two sides didn’t come to an agreement.

“The LCSPA, Riot, and the LCS teams have come to an agreement to resume the 2023 LCS Summer Split on June 14th,” the LCS wrote in a statement shared on Twitter. “Concessions were made by Riot and teams to ensure a more sustainable NACL future and a more equitable voice for players in their workplace.

Among other things, the parties agreed to $300,000 to be split across the 10 NACL teams, equal representation for players and teams on a committee to “determine any future changes to the practice schedule in a collaborative manner,” and a commitment for teams to “ensure” that foreign players have mandated healthcare available “by the first day they are in the US.”

The summer season (or “split”) will now start on June 14th, Riot wrote in its own announcement. Competition will happen over three days per week — Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday — instead of two days per week in the spring season.

“Delaying Summer Split was not a decision we took lightly, but ultimately the dialogue between the league, the LCSPA, and teams provided the space to realign on shared goals for the future of the LCS and NACL,” Naz Aletaha, Riot’s global head of League of Legends esports, said in a statement. “Building for the long-term sustainability and success of the LCS ecosystem is the win-condition for us all.”