Riot’s new Kickoff Event will celebrate the start of the 2023 competitive season across nine leagues.
It was announced in early December that a new Kickoff Event was to replace the previously popular All-Star Event starting in 2023. As there weren’t any All-Star Events in the last two years, due to both COVID and the pro play schedule, fans were excited about a preseason show.
Riot said in their announcement that “Season Kickoff event will ultimately provide a much-deserved break for pro players and an exciting new platform for fans that will supplement the end-of-year local competitions and celebrations that regions typically hold during this period.” The promise of the event was to highlight competing teams and players in the nine Riot-accredited leagues (LCS, LEC, LCK, LPL, LJL, CBLOL, LLA, PCS, and VCS), talk about the plans for the LoL Esports’ future, while also giving fans a first look at Season 2023 on the Rift. But there wasn’t any specific news about the format aside from that.
Well, until today. In a trailer released by LoL Esports today, Riot announced that the Kickoff Event will be a special two-day broadcasted event that will last a few hours in each region. When one league concludes its event, the next league will take over the broadcast and the action will continue for fans looking for a pro play marathon. The main part of the broadcast will be the show matches.
Ready for a banger? Well, we’ve got 9 coming January 10 & 11. pic.twitter.com/xcCBXp6Zr5
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) January 5, 2023
While the formats can change from league to league, the basics are all similar. All pro teams in each of the 9 leagues will send players to compete in the Kickoff event. It’s up to each region to determine how teams are drafted, so you might see different methods in the LCS versus the PCS. The games will be played on the Rift without any bans, but repeat champions also won’t be allowed, in a similar fashion to the Fearless Draft mode. All leagues are expected to play a Bo3 series, except LPL who will have a different format due to the increased number of players participating. For example, the teams for LCK are already drafted and it will be a Team Faker vs. Team Deft show match.
Kickoff Event Schedule
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
- LCK: 1-5 am PT // 10 am-2 pm CET
- VCS: 5-8 am PT // 2-5 pm CET
- CBLOL: 8-11 am PT // 5-8 pm CET
- LCS: 11 am-2 pm PT // 8-11 pm CET
- Rebroadcast: 2-9 pm PT // 11 pm-6 am CET
- LJL: 11 pm-2 am PT // 6-9 am CET
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
- LPL: 2-5 am PT // 11 am-2 pm CET
- PCS: 5-8 am PT // 2-5 pm CET
- LEC: 8-11 am PT // 5-8 pm CET
- LLA: 11 am-2 pm PT // 8-11 pm CET
- Rebroadcasts: 2-8 pm PT // 11 pm-5 am CET
Fans can watch all the broadcasts on the lolesports website and follow up on the action via the LoLEsports on Twitter.
For more LoL Esports news in the 2023 season, follow us on ESTNN.
