Riot Games has confirmed that the next split of the Northern League of Legends Champions (NLC) has been postponed as the publisher looks for a new tournament organiser.
The future of the regional LoL esports tournament for the UK, Ireland, and Nordic countries remains up in the air as NLC tournament organisers League ApS stepped down just weeks before the Spring Split started.
League ApS informed Riot that it was “no longer in a position to operate the league” a fortnight ago after the organiser was alleged to have failed to pay some staff members.
The NLC Spring Split was set to start at the end of March, but it has now been pushed back to late April with no concrete dates announced as of yet.
Riot Games Searches For New NLC Organisers
Now, LoL publisher Riot is scrambling to find another company to run the EMEA Regional League (ERL).
In its latest statement, Riot claims more time is needed to find a suitable replacement:
“Following NLClol’s former TO stepping away from league operations, we’ve been in ongoing discussions with potential new partners.
“To ensure we land this in the right way, we need a bit more time, and as a result, the start of the Spring Split will be postponed to the end of April.”
Riot apologised for fans having to wait to support their favourite teams and promised to look for ways to support the NLC long term, adding:
“We’re continuing to assess both the short and long-term structure and stability of the region, with the goal of ensuring teams across the UK, Ireland, and the Nordics have a reliable competitive environment. We’re exploring different options for the format to determine the best path forward.”
The format of this year’s NLC Winter Split was also criticised for lacking competitive integrity at the expense of content creation.
League ApS introduced ‘Wildcard’ rules, which allowed teams to sub in retired LoL esports pros who had played at much higher levels for one-off matches.
The league also pivoted to inviting multiple teams owned by content creators in order to fill the hole left by LoL’s biggest co-streamer Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont and his Los Ratones project.
Los Ratones’ massive following shattered records for the NLC with a peak of 360k concurrent viewers last year, which then led to a massive 90% drop off in viewership this year after Caedrel and his team left the league.
Refreshed NLC Could Be a Big Opportunity for Broadcast Talent
League ApS was also criticised for its handling of broadcast talent this year after firing the long-serving duo of Jake ‘Hiprain’ Matthews and Georgia ‘Troubleinc’ Parasand, who have both previously worked on the LEC too.
With the NLC set to be under new leadership, the league could return to a more traditional broadcast model and offer more opportunities to the various talent already out there.
However, former NLC caster Hiprain claims that Riot has not been in contact with any casters and pleaded on social media for the publishers to let him help:
“I’m glad they are taking their time so we don’t have a leagues or freaks situation again, but please talk to the casting team this is our careers. Let us help you make this show great again.”
Riot has promised to release another update once a new tournament organiser, format, and schedule have all been locked in.
What changes would you like to see made to the NLC? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
At least in brighter news for the UK esports scene, DreamHack Birmingham has been confirmed to return in 2027, one day after it finished.
Past time to close Riot. Tencent need to just cut losses should have bought Nexon or Krafton. Also up stakes in Kadokawa.