Professional League of Legends Expands to Monday Nights

With 2020 now upon us, League of Legends season is set to kick-off in just a few short weeks. Today, Riot Games released the upcoming format for the spring and summer split seasons, and things will be a bit different this year! In addition to Saturday and Sunday, LCS will now feature matches on Monday nights, in a format Riot Games is calling Monday Night League. Saturday and Sunday will both host four LCS games each, as well as one, in-studio Academy game, while Mondays will feature two marquee LCS games and three Academy games.

League fans will also be able to tune into a plethora of Academy content on Friday nights, through a new show called Academy Rush. Academy Rush will feature five remote games played and aired simultaneously, with shoutcasters cutting back and forth between them to show highlights. It sounds a bit similar to NFL Red Zone, albeit in a more curated format. The evening will conclude, however, with a single, uninterrupted, in-studio Academy game. According to Riot, the intention of the expansion in Academy content is to give audiences a better chance to see some of the sport’s up-and-coming players in a more convenient package.

The expansion into Monday night programming should be a welcome one for League of Legends fans. It also makes sense given the growth of the sport. LCS has become the third biggest sports league between 18-34-year-old viewers. With more viewers than ever tuning in, it’s only natural for Riot to want to expand the amount of content available to viewers. Riot has also said that expanding the amount of air-time for Academy matches is a way to help players gain stage experience. With the new format, all Academy teams will have an on-stage match opportunity each week. This could prove to be invaluable for Academy players looking to find their way on to an LCS roster.

The schedule for the first four weeks of programming is available here. Riot has not posted the rest of the schedule, as of this writing. Fans can watch all of the match-ups at Watch.lolesports.com or on YouTube. LCS matches can be seen on both of those sources, or on Twitch.

Are you excited about LCS matches airing on Monday nights? Do you plan on tuning in? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!