LCS broadcast days are changing to Thursdays and Fridays starting with the new Spring Split.
A lot of sweeping changes are happening in the League of Legends Esports as we close out 2022. We saw Europe merge with Turkey and the Middle East to create EMEA, changing the name of LEC, and there are rumors of international format changes as well. Not to mention the rise of Valorant as an esport with the anticipated start of the franchised VCT leagues. LCS won’t be included in these format changes at the moment, but the league will see some adjustments to its broadcast days as part of the Riot’s new announcement.
In a lolesports.com post, the Head of Riot Esports for the Americas region Raul Fernandez talked about some of the upcoming changes to LCS. The first change will be changing the LCS Arena’s name to Riot Games Arena as the VCT Americas will also be hosted at the venue. With Valorant joining LCS and taking the weekend broadcast days, LCS will be moving to weekdays, Thursdays and Fridays specifically.
2023 #LCS Schedule Updates
Read: https://t.co/O7s7ALsYYE pic.twitter.com/Wxsi0qhO8U
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) December 16, 2022
The League community is unhappy with the decision to move the LCS broadcast
Fernandez mentioned multiple reasons for the change in schedule in the previously mentioned post. It seems like Riot come to the conclusion with the data in their hand that current fans will still watch the same amount of content during weekdays as they do on weekends, and the change will help LCS reach new audiences as well. Fernandez also said the change was more about LCS’s future, rather than its past. “But we firmly believe moving LCS to weekday matches gives the league an opportunity to reshape its identity, opening new avenues for the broadcast and associated creative concepts that we’ve started to explore with our players, teams, fans, and partners,” he added.
But the community’s perception was more negative about the change. Fans on Reddit and Twitter had the opinion that this change was mainly due to VCT Americas sliding into the LCS’s weekend slot and Riot not wanting their LoL product to compete with Valorant. The biggest criticism point was the broadcasting hours starting at noon, in the middle of work or school for most adult and young fans. Some of the online commenters said this was signaling Riot giving up on their North American League scene and catering more towards a European audience with the time slot.
2023 LCS Spring Split Schedule and Format
Unlike the LEC, which was reorganized into the EMEA region, LCS will not see any format changes for 2023. Both Spring Split and Summer Splits will be Double Round Robins over eight weeks of regular season play, with two three-day Super Weeks each split. Split Playoff formats also remain unchanged with the winners of Spring Playoffs representing North America at the Mid-Season Invitational, and with the top three finishers in the LCS Championship going to Worlds.
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 1
- Day 1, January 26: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 2, January 27: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 2
- Day 3, February 2: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 4, February 3: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 3
- Day 5, February 9: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 6, February 10: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 4
- Day 7, February 15: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 8, February 16: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 9, February 17: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 5
- Day 10, February 23: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 11, February 24: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 6
- Day 12, March 2: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 13, March 3: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 7
- Day 14, March 9: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 15, March 10: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Week 8
- Day 16, March 15: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 17, March 16: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
- Day 18, March 17: 12:00 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET // 9:00 PM CET
2023 LCS Spring Split Playoffs
- Week 1: March 23-26
- Week 2: March 30-31
- Finals Weekend: April 8-9
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