After giving an update on the new Americas League, Riot Games shares more details on the tier 2 ecosystem for the upcoming 2025 season.
Image Credit: Riot Games
Americas League Tier 2 teams will get a chance to compete in Tier 1
2025 will mark the start of a new era in League of Legends esports. The LCS, CBLOL, and LLA will be uniting to form one big region called the Americas League. Split into two conferences, the new ecosystem is looking to strengthen its competition by bringing more cross-regional play and allowing the communities to come together into one big group.
Riot Games also gave new details regarding the Tier 2 systems as it looks to give newcomers and young talents an accessible way to professional play. For the first time ever, Tier 2 teams will be able to qualify for Tier 1 through guest slots.
These slots will be granted on a one-year basis as four competitive leagues will be contending the slot.
Tier 2 Americas system explained
The ecosystem will have two conferences, each with two leagues: North (NACL & LRN) and South (CBLOL Academy & LRS).
Riot has unveiled that the first split of every Americas Tier 2 league will have Full Fearless, meaning that champions banned or played will only appear once in every series. NACL and CBLOL Academy will continue with their two-split format. Latin America, on the other hand, will have a restructuring as they will become full tier 2 leagues:
- LRN (Liga Regional Norte) will feature teams from Latin America North, including Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia.
- LRS (Liga Regional Sur) will consist of teams from Latin America South, including Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay.
At the end of the season, there will be tier-1 promotion tournaments where the top two tier-two teams from each league (four teams in total) and the Guest team from each Tier-1 conference will compete for the Guest slot (5 teams for each promotion tournament).
Teams promoted to Tier 1
Teams that are promoted to Tier 1 will adopt a business model similar to that of partner teams, allowing them to sustainably invest in the space as they will also be able to qualify for international tournaments, including MSI and Worlds.
Tier 3 Integration and Tier 1 Sister teams
For teams looking to enter the Tier 2 ecosystem, there will be dedicated qualifiers while Tier 1 sister (and collegiate teams) will be allowed to take part in Tier 2 but in limited capacity, according to Riot. More details will be revealed later this year.
