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League/Tournament Brands:
- DreamHack will manage next year’s season of the UKLC, the regional League of Legends competition for the UK and Ireland.
- The competition was run by Spanish esports operator LVP in its inaugural season, however, the company is ceasing its UK operations.
- DreamHack will also continue managing the Nordic Championship while working with Riot Games to deliver a “more robust regional system” for the market.
Esports and gaming events company DreamHack will take over management of the UKLC; the official regional League of Legends competition for the UK and Ireland. Beginning with the Spring split in February, the competition will feature eight teams and a £60K GBP ($78.8K USD) prize pool, with plans to roll out a “new-look ecosystem” for the region in the Summer split.
The first two seasonal splits of the UKLC were run by LVP this year. However, Esports News UK reported that the Spanish firm would be ceasing their UK operations, with Mo Fadl, head of publishing for Riot Games in the Nordics, later confirming that the two would not be partnering for the second year of the UKLC.
In its first year, the UKLC tried to set itself apart from other League of Legends European Regional Leagues (ERLs) with nine teams, and a “tower champion” format. In a debrief published in September, it was stated that the league would move to eight teams and a typical double round-robin format for 2020.
Today’s announcement also confirmed that two League of Legends European Championship (LEC) academy teams, Fnatic Rising and Excel UK, would remain in the competition, with other competitors still to be announced.
In addition, DreamHack will continue to manage the Nordic Championship for Spring 2020. In the past, two teams from the five Nordic countries qualified for this ERL by placing first and second in their respective national league. Next year, teams will qualify directly, providing they have three Nordic residents among their roster.
Like the national leagues, these qualifiers will be run in partnership with Challengermode. The Championship itself will feature eight teams, and a 200K SEK ($21.2K) prize pool.
DreamHack will also unveil new changes for the Nordic League of Legends esports market in March 2020. Historically the region has delivered some of the game’s best global talent; including two Danish players for 2019 World Championships finalists G2 Esports, and longtime Swedish player for Fnatic, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson. DreamHack also hosted the very first League of Legends World Championship at its Winter festival event in 2011.
Both the UKLC and Nordic Championship will be played online and broadcast from DreamHack’s studio in Stockholm. The grand finalists for both ERLs will then play live from the studio, on March 29.
