After winning best esports host of the year and several years of hosting work with the LCS, Dash won’t be returning to the broadcast “in the same capacity” for 2023.
Dash has been a name synonymous with the LCS for the vast majority of its existence. From hosting the biggest domestic events to defining some of League of Legends’ greatest moments internationally, he’s been a huge part of LoL’s competitive history.
But the LCS is seeing some major scheduling changes in 2023, changes that have had a mixed reception. The future of North American League of Legends is, at this point in time, an unsure one.
As a side effect of how the broadcast will be changing for the coming LCS season, Dash won’t be sticking with the broadcast in 2023.
Dash won’t be hosting “in the same capacity” for LCS 2023
During his time working on the LCS, Dash has become a host that’s iconic even beyond League of Legends’ space in the esports ecosystem.
General esports fans who would tune in for only LoL’s biggest matches have been impressed with his charisma, netting him multiple Host of the Year nominations and, in 2022, he finally got his hands on a trophy to call his own.
But, with 2023’s LCS changes coming, Dash revealed that he won’t be working with the broadcast as he has for the past several years.
— James Dash (@JamesDash) January 3, 2023
Though he’s saddened by the fact he won’t be hosting, Dash confirmed in his on-stream conversation that he’s doing just fine. He spent the length of his Q and A session reassuring his chat that things would be alright. That said, Dash did confirm that this was Riot’s decision and not his.
According to Dash, he was informed back in August that he wouldn’t be returning to the broadcast in 2023, so this has been determined for a while. This news comes after Phreak’s retirement from casting as well, except that he decided to pivot onto the balance team rather than pursuing other gigs as broadcast talent.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Dash claimed in both the tweet and his stream that he’s excited for new opportunities, and is more than willing to work with the LCS broadcast and beyond, including that he’s actively looking for a spot working with the Valorant broadcast through 2023.
Riot confirms this is not a “good-bye” to Dash
In a recently-released video by Travis Gafford, in which he discusses the state of the LCS with John Needham and Naz Aletaha, the pair addressed the changes that led to Dash’s leaving.
Needham said, “we did some tests this last year around a host-less show and what that could look like.”
He went on to say that the show had been structured with the analyst desk to emulate traditional sports. However, now Riot appears to be moving in a different direction. “We think we’re going to make a push to doing…more entertaining segments instead of an analyst desk and just experiment more.”
Dash was aware of this change of plans in August, Needham says, and Riot wanted him to be a part of these changes.
Although it doesn’t appear that will happen now, Needham assures fans that Dash will be back on the LCS in some capacity, and they are in talks with him to host some international events and potentially some Valorant events as well.
“We’re not saying ‘goodbye’ to Dash,” Needham reiterated.