In the summer of 2018, an unfortunate situation happened around the LCS player signing deadline. Halfway through the split, Echo Fox, who were first in the standings at that point, released three key starters in a dramatic rebuild of their team. But it was the timing that caught most by surprise: the move happened just before the roster lock deadline, after which teams cannot sign new players to their rosters for the rest of the season.
That resulted in a situation where the three players Echo Fox released, mid laner Kim “Fenix” Jae-hun, bot laner Johnny “Altec” Ru, and support Adrian Ma, did not have time to find a new team before the deadline. Now, the Players Association has pushed through a rule to end that. Beginning in 2019, players released within 48 hours of the deadline are afforded an additional three days to find a new team.
This should prevent a situation like what happened to Fenix, Altec, and Adrian. All ended up sitting out the rest of 2018 after getting released. For Fenix, the result was especially bitter: he was just one split from becoming an NA resident per Riot’s rules. But because he was cut, he did not accrue enough games in the Summer Split to count it towards the residency requirement.
This is a major victory for the Players Association. Because the Association is funded by Riot Games, questions over its ability to have a real impact have dogged it since inception. But President Darshan Upadhyaya worked tirelessly to push this through to Riot. Overall, it’s a positive development in the realm of player rights in an industry where consolidation and franchising have increased the power of teams and leagues.
It remains to be seen if other regions will follow the LCS and institute similar policies. League esports operates under a regional formula in which rules and requirements are generally set locally. However, there are some rules that are uniform, especially ones that pertain to international competition.
