"In 2018, Riot introduced franchising to the LCS and promised it would bring more stability by increasing salaries, forming a better amateur scene, and increasing investments via sponsorships. 5 years later, the amateur scene is dead, the region is filled with imports, and teams are looking to leave.
It's just funny to me how most people back then were extremely skeptical of Franchising in NA, but Riot kept assuring us how it was a good thing for the region. Now those very teams that Riot has supported has destroyed the scene by unanimously voting to not require Academy teams because of "finances". And right after voting, some of them are either looking to sell their spots or outright leave. Meanwhile, they're still willing to pay players millions of dollars while also looking for imports who rarely even fulfill their contracts and leave early.
According to C9, an amateur team costs roughly $900k a year to field including salaries, food, housing etc. Meanwhile, C9 Perkz was getting paid $2.7 million a year, TSM Swordart had a $3 million contract for 2 years, TL Jensen was getting paid $4.2 million for 3 years, and so on.
I have without a doubt that those teams saying that they can't afford to finance an amateur team would magically find the funds if someone like Faker, Chovy, Keria, etc., wanted to come and play in NA.
It feels like management were literally spending without care thinking that the money would come in forever. However, turns out fans and sponsors aren't too happy when their region continues to suck internationally. It also doesn't help that the scene is filled with imports, and many of these teams have 0 community engagement. Not only do they have 0 merchandise, but their YouTube, Twitter, and other social media channels are dead.
Don't know what Riot is going to do to help stabilize the scene, but everytime I think the region couldn't get worse, it does. While Franchising may have worked for other regions, the teams that Riot has chosen to support in the LCS have effectively destroyed the scene.
Edit: Did not expect this to get so much traction. Anyways, a lot of people are DMing me saying that Riot never supported franchising and that Orgs are solely to blame. Here's an article that Riot themselves posted in 2017 before it was decided which teams would be chosen for franchising.
https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/2017/01/evolution-of-the-na-lcs-2/
Yes, there was a lot of mismanagement from orgs. But Riot oversees them and did little to nothing about it."
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