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Rumour: All NA LCS Teams sign up for 2017 after Riot threats

Riot Games deny any discussions were made regarding selling spots.

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You may remember, a few weeks ago, that there were reports that League of Legends LCS Team Owners sent a letter to Riot Games highlighting concerns regarding team and player security. It was apparently signed by eight different NA Teams, who called for urgent reform in Riot's practices.

Now, according to a report from Esports Observer, it looks like every team who drafted the letter has now signed up for the 2017 season successfully. This doesn't mean the demands proposed in the letter were met, however, the report goes on to say that Riot Games was planning to allow Echo Fox, the only NA LCS team to not sign the letter, to poach players from other teams without consequence. They were also going to prevent Cloud9 from selling their second LCS slot, which could very well have cost them upwards of $1 million US dollars.

In an update from Esports Observer, a spokesperson from Riot has since denied any discussion of the process of selling teams, nor of any discussion to allow poaching players. However, in a second update, a source approached claiming that Echo Fox has already tried to poach at least one player from another team, supposedly with encouragement from Riot.

Of course, nothing here is completely confirmed, but if these rumours about Riot's counter-threats to NA teams are true, then it has very severe implications. The company's alleged coercion of other teams by heightening the powers of a sole team to bring the rest in line, and preventing the sale of LCS slots is a worrying invasion into the business practices of other organisations, and if true this should be taken very seriously. Regardless, it seems every NA team has now been signed up for the 2017 season, and we'll see it kick off early next year.

What do you make of these allegations?

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