Perhaps, never before has LPL faced a crisis as it does now, even during the time Royal Never Give Up was accused of salary debts or when a series of negative incidents, match-fixing… forced the LDL tournament to be indefinitely suspended. The issues that LPL is currently facing are of a much more serious degree and are somewhat related to sensitive issues. Among them, there are 3 key problems being highlighted by LPL media that could impact the tournament’s survival, not just in 2024 but also in the future.
LPL Suspected of Not Being Able to Broadcast Live
For a tournament, especially in Esports in general and League of Legends in particular, not being able to broadcast live or only being aired at undesirable times, or just the less exciting matches… would be like a “death sentence.” This is because when viewers have no way to follow, there will be two reactions from the community: trying every means to watch, or switching to other Esports games. However, the issue of tournament broadcasting rights is not truly complicated. But the troubles that LPL is suffering are another matter.
Remember, Chinese media once reported that the Demacia Cup or even earlier the LPL All-Star was banned from broadcasting because the previous Worlds had invited a girl group to sing the theme song. Due to these cases of the All-Star or Demacia Cup before, LPL Spring 2024 suddenly became very precarious.
Reports of Korean Players Being Banned from Broadcasting
At the recent Demacia Cup, it was not difficult to notice that Korean players were almost invisible across all broadcasting channels. Even the clips or real-time images of these players did not appear as usual. Uzi also revealed that, due to reasons “that viewers already know,” it might be that in the future, LPL will no longer broadcast images of players from the land of the morning calm.
However, Korean players play a vital role in the lineup of LPL teams. No LPL champion has ever been without an import from the LCK in their roster, and these players are often key figures. If LPL no longer values them, it’s possible that LCK players might “escape” from here. Of course, that would be a heavy blow to LPL teams, especially when they performed extremely poorly against T1 at Worlds 2023 recently, and the absence of imports could signal the end for LPL on the international stage.
LPL Spring 2024 Schedule
Typically, in previous years, LPL viewers wouldn’t expect much from the opening matches because the LPL rules have been established for a long time. It usually features a strong team against a weak team, or two weak teams, or two mid-tier teams. However, recently, LCK Spring 2024 made a breakthrough: Gen.G will face T1 in the opening match, and thus, LPL cannot ignore this.
Fans likely also want to see real clashes to make the tournament exciting from the start. A match between JD Gaming – Bilibili Gaming or Top Esports – JD Gaming would be more interesting than Rare Atom – Ultra Prime. Therefore, while the LPL Spring schedule is perhaps the least serious issue, it could show fans how enticing LPL Spring 2024 could be.