The Hurdles Of The League of Legends NA League
The North American League Of Legends scene is frankly speaking not in it’s top shape and a clear example of this in the World Championship. This year Team Liquid’s fate was entirely up to the result of a match they didn’t even get to play. Team Liquid and Coach Joshua Leesman had to wait for a tense 44 minutes of the G2 Esports and Suning match. Suning ultimately won and like that Liquid’s aspirations for this year ended as well. History would soon repeat for all of the LCS a few days later.
What Are The The Hurdles Of The League of Legends NA League?
Despite favorable 2-1 results FlyQuest would ultimately fail to quality due to their week 1 results. And TSM in fact didn’t manage to win a single game; a 0-6 score being the result of two weeks of play. While Coach Leesman was approached over the results of Liquid a larger problem is at root when it comes to the LCS. Last year the North American teams finished with a 6-12 score, so there’s definitely deep issues with the current league.
In light of the recent results the teams are doing the best to return to form and in general to grasp what’s the underlying issue.
Team Liquid will aim to make roster changes mid-season, but is that where the core problem lies?
A major point of concern for the league is salaries. Because despite their performance the salaries in North American teams are some of the highest in the world, yet less expensive leagues like Europe and South Korea managed to get into the semifinals. So where is the fundamental flaw in the NA league?
According to TMS Coach Parth Naidu it all comes down to the lack of fresh blood. As he brings up North America’s current model has resulted in a lot of veterans, but a clear lack of new domestic talent. Naidu brought up that despite the existence of Academy and Amateur systems they didn’t bring many new players.
Naidu’s words seem to aim at a genuine problem if we look at the numbers. The average player age for this year’s qualifying North American teams was 23.4 years. On the other hand, Europe sat at an average at 21.3. There’s no way to deny that overall NA players are generally older.
However while many agree on the fact that NA is failing to cultivate new talent; few agree on what causes it. Some have brought up that the solo queue servers being located in Chicago results in critical lag. Others point out that the solo queue itself is an issue. Another common theory is that the lack of infrastructure results in a lack of substantial practice for both the main and Academy rosters.
However, one final theory brings up that the issue lies in how North America deals with revenue and sponsorship. The idea is that teams prefer to keep already established players due to fear of losing financial backing. However, representatives have dispelled the notion of time and time again.
As it stands nobody is fully sure where the problem starts, but the league as a whole is undeniably trying to get past it. Reforms for the amateur system are coming and with some luck, they’ll be enough to bring back some glory to the NA league.
