Riot Games announced that the League Championship Series, North America's top-tier League of Legends professional league, will resume on June 14 after a two-week delay due to a dispute with the LCS Players Association.

The dispute began in May, when Riot made changes to the LCS rules that resulted in the elimination of most teams in the North American Challengers League, the lower league launched in 2022. This resulted in many players, coaches, and managers losing their jobs, and the Players Association called for a walkout.

The players voted "overwhelmingly" in favor, but not immediately to give negotiations a chance to work out. Riot then delayed the start of the 2023 summer season by two weeks, hoping to "give time for productive dialogue among LCSPA, the teams, and the league."

However, he pressured them, warning that if no agreement was reached in the meantime, the entire summer season would be cancelled and North American teams would not be able to compete in the 2023 World Championships.

Fortunately, it won't happen: Riot announced today that the event, officially called "Summer Split," will be held in a modified format starting June 14.

"The decision to postpone the Summer Split was not made lightly, but ultimately the dialogue between the league, LCSPA, and teams provided a forum to realign on shared goals for the future of the LCS and NACL," LoL esports global head Naz Aletaha stated. Building for the long-term sustainability and success of the LCS ecosystem is a win-win for all of us."

LCSPA said both Riot and LCS made concessions during negotiations and praised the players for "putting their jobs on the line to seek protection for their weakest members and to secure the future of the NA talent pipeline."

"While this agreement falls short of our originally stated goals, Riot agreed to a series of important changes and committed to meaningful consultation with the LCSPA before making any further decisions," the players' association said. The following concessions "do not fully return the NACL, nor do they provide for the recovery of players who have suddenly lost their jobs, fallen into financial hardship, lost their visas, or had their leases terminated... LCSPA will pursue all possibilities to make these players more whole, and We are committed to continuing to do so.

"What we have achieved is a guarantee by Riot going forward to support the new NACL format and its players: increased financial support for the NACL, accountability measures to protect players working under the new NACL operator, and future permanent protections for our lowest income members to mitigate harm.

These are the broad terms of the agreement they hammered out:

The agreement falls far short of the LCSPA's original request that Riot withdraw the changes that led to the elimination of NACL teams and adopt an entirely different proposal for the 2024 NACL, and some fans were critical of the outcome. Some, however, appreciated the fact that the players were able to extract some concessions and make further progress for future seasons. One follower commented, "They came in with a strong list of demands, and by compromising on some of them, they created a better situation for the players than the status quo. That's what negotiation is all about."