Title. ELI5
Money for whom?
For Riot? No, they'll be regularly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to each participating team, they'll definitely lose from this.
For orgs? No, orgs will be wasting it all away (and even more) on players salaries, bootcamps, travels, content creation, they won't lose neither gain from this, but they'll increase their brand values.
For players? Yes, but only those in franchising, everyone else except 150 guys in 30 teams can fuck themselves.
I don't think you have any idea what franchising means.
so you think this is a massive charity then? It's very clear that in the long term this will be financially beneficial for riot and the orgs, by further increasing the game's fame, increasing brand values, having a set list fo tier1 teams with known players to sell merchandising or skins, and that will create an "easier" structure to watch pro play for fans. This is definitely a money-driven move, riot and the orgs are private businesses who are driven to eventually make more money, of course this will be benefitial for them if they're so excited about it
jesus christ
sure they may have lost money on the esport itself, but the esports scene is the thing that get's players involved with the game. The value that the esports scene has for the casual playerbase who are buying skins etc is tremendous.
If they had indeed lost money on LoL all things considered, who do you think is compensating them for their loss and keep them from going bankrupt? Do you think anonymous donors are just handing Riot money out of good will to keep the company going?
has it not helped make LoL one of the most popular games of all time? does it not help sell skins? does it not increase the player base even in the slightiest? doesn't it make people think more about LoL even when they're not playing? Don't you think they probably will start making money in the future as esports continue becoming more and more mainstream?
Don't bother explaining, he clearly doesn't understand.
All companies exist for one reason and one reason only: to make money. That goes for Riot & all of the orgs joining the franchised league. If there were no monetary gain involved, either directly (price money for example) or in brand value, sponsorships, etc. then they wouldn't do it.
It's all about money.
Exactly, it can't be called as "franchising" because it's not like LOL, where you have to buy an spot to get in the international league.
In Valorant, it's called partnership: Riot decides 10 teams for 3 international leagues (EMEA, America, and the rest of regions) based on their project (fanbase and finantial stability) and Riot pay these teams so they can compete with the best roster and attract more people to Valorant scene with their own brand (narrative, merchandising, vlogs, ¿skins?...)
I agree with you, and I think that's the principal reason for making the international leagues closed, without possibilites of better teams of regional leagues to promote (but the solution for that is buying their best players or the complete rosters from partner orgs). That makes an stability for Riot and orgs, it makes sense.
if you want to know more about franchising skip to 5:50 and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoicqlTLbqw