Now that franchising has been successfully implemented within the NA LCS the same system will be implemented within the EU LCS. This has been known for a while already so in the past we have seen quite a bit of speculation on which teams will stay in the EU LCS when the franchising system is implemented. However, a report published by ESPN has finally confirmed 5 of the current LCS teams that will be part of the franchised league.
These 5 teams are Fnatic, G2, Vitality, Misfits, and Schalke 04. Fnatic and G2 become being granted franchise spots was pretty much guaranteed. Both teams have an enormous history within competitive League of Legends and sport huge fanbases. Schalke 04 being part of the franchised league was also nearly guaranteed as it’s of course an enormous soccer team that is behind the League of Legends team. Vitality also has tons of sponsors and is relatively popular although the team was a bit more likely to be declined than the other 3. The only small surprise is Misfits but they are back by the NFL team Miami Heat so they certainly have enough money to apply for franchising.
ESPN has also confirmed two teams that have sadly not made the cut. These teams are Splyce and H2k. The reasons as to why they were declined a franchising spot are unknown but both teams have never been too popular, despite both teams making it to Worlds several times. Roccat, another relatively popular team currently playing in the EU LCS, has not even applied for a spot since they are a bit of a smaller organization.
Besides Fnatic, G2, Vitality, Misfits, and Schalke 04 we currently do not know any other teams that will be part of the League. We will probably see quite a few new teams become part of the EU LCS just like we saw when the NA LCS introduced franchising. There are also still UOL and Giants, who are currently part of the LCS but have not been confirmed to be granted or denied a franchise spot. We also know that Xpeke’s team Origen may have applied for a spot but there is also no information on his team so far.
The official announcement of which parts will become part of the franchised EU LCS was planned to be released after Worlds 2018 which means that we will have to wait a bit to know more about which teams are in and which are out. However, many EU LCS fans are probably relieved to see that some of EU’s favorite teams will stay alive.
