Author: NGA-Rinakawa ♀ Akira ( ♀
2022 is the second year that the LCK League has entered the league, as the world's earliest division to open the league system, the LCK League is the latest major franchise area, they did not announce the ownership of 10 LKK franchises until the end of 2020, and did not expand the number of places this year.
The so-called franchise is that the operator of the club pays a certain amount of seat fee to Riot Games to ensure that their clubs get permanent seats in the league and participate in the operation and dividends of the league. Although the alliance may have some bottom teams in a bad situation, but overall it still brings a positive effect, the team does not have to worry about the risk of relegation, will cultivate and use more young players.
Recently, there have been some posts in South Korean forums saying that LCK teams cannot sell league qualifications for a certain period of time, which has caused widespread discussion. In the recent LCK transfer period, there were no LKK teams to trade places, and only some teams received title sponsorship, thus changing the team name, such as the AF team receiving the title sponsorship of Guangdong Pharmaceutical and becoming the KDF team.
Because the official rulebook of The Fist Game does not mention the relevant content, many practitioners in the e-sports circle are not clear about it. Therefore, the Korean media INVEN confirmed this matter to Fist Games this week, and the reply they received was that there was no special time limit for the sale of league qualifications.
In March 2021, it was rumored that KT Team was about to sell LCK seats in the League of Legends division, and at that time, some people questioned whether KT Team could sell league seats immediately after joining LCK League. Of course, the KT team did not change hands in the end, and this rumor became more and more widespread.
Riot Games said that in the franchise contract, if the club receives title sponsorship and changes the team name, the new team name must be maintained for at least three years, so the outside world rumors may be misrepresented based on this clause.
This is naturally to ensure that the league team has recognition, can better maintain the brand operation, and also gives the title sponsor more protection. This is also why Guangdong Pharmaceutical sponsored the AF team for three years, because the AF team will not be able to change its name in the next three years. I am not sure at this time whether this contract provision applies to teams in other major divisions.