Riot shifts LCS 2023 broadcast time from 12 p.m. PST on to a time more suitable for fans both in America and around the world.
After moving the LCS 2023 broadcast to Thursdays and Fridays, Riot has implemented changes requested by fans regarding the broadcast time. However, it is also clear that LCS views the league as its number-two priority.
In an interview with Travis Gafford, Riot's global head of League esports Naz Aletha and president of esports John Needham revealed the new schedule. While the LCS regular schedule will still hold during the week, it will start at 2 p.m. PST on Thursday and Friday. This shift was done to accommodate the VALORANT Champions Tour making its 2023 season debut at the Los Angeles studio as a part of the VCT Americas league.
Reason for Riot's Change of LCS broadcast time
The change of the LCS schedule from the weekend to weekdays had a lot of fans worried about the growth and future of the League. Moreover, the time allocated to the league made it harder for fans to tune in during the weekdays.
Global head of League esports, Aletha explained that the time changes were "optimized for a North American audience." They also decided to go with the new time to ensure that the broadcast did not stretch past night time for fans in the eastern and central time zones with more fans living there. She also explained that the match schedules will remain the same for the first few weeks.
Furthermore, Needham apologized for the communication from Riot as the blog post explaining the changes to LCS was not sufficient enough. He also assured fans that Riot has no plans to neglect the LCS because of the VCT.
"League of Legends esports is by the far the biggest esports on the planet. The LCS is one of our more important leagues within that ecosystem," said Needham. "We're not going to do anything that weakens our hold, that hurts the overall sports, that hurts the LCS. It's our oldest league, Riot has invested over the years 250 million dollars into the LCS."
"The LCS as a league is our number two league from a revenue perspective."
There are also plans to invest more in the LCS this year and increase the entire viewership. According to Esports Charts, the LCS has the lowest viewership among the four major regions. The 2023 LCS Spring split kicks off on Jan. 26 and it will be interesting to see how the new changes affect the league.
Keep watch at esports.gg for more LCS 2023 news and notes.