Riot Games mistakenly announced that it had raised the LEC’s minimum age from 17 to 18. The article citing the change has since been repealed by the LEC’s commissioner, though he said they’re still considering the change in the future.
In a FAQ article posted on the LoL Esports website, Riot had announced a change to the minimum age requirement ahead of the LEC Winter split with a view to helping “unlock new sponsorship opportunities for teams.”
The change has since been rescinded, with the LEC commissioner pointing out that this version of the article was never meant to be posted.
We have been evaluating the option to raise the age requirement as we had no underage players recently, it unlocks potential future sponsorships and we strongly believe in our ERLs & EM as the foundation of our ecosystem, but have decided against it for the time being.(2/2)
— Maximilian Peter Schmidt (@RiotMAXtheX) January 12, 2023
While the change was being considered, the LEC decided against implementing it ahead of the 2023 season.
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On Twitter, esports veteran Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles had speculated that the change could have been an attempt to comply with gambling regulations in Europe and allow teams to advertise betting companies. Others had suggested that it was aimed at greenlighting the sponsorship of teams by alcohol companies.
The #LEC raised the minimum age of players from 17 to 18 to “unlock new sponsorship opportunities for teams.”Considering that gambling age for most European countries is 18, I am curious if this means that teams will be able to advertise sports betting.Any other ideas? pic.twitter.com/NWBAsOZhXS
— MonteCristo (@MonteCristo) January 12, 2023
The 2023 LEC 2023 will feature three splits — Winter, Spring, and Summer — as part of Riot Games’ overhaul of the league’s format, with three matchdays every week on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. In 2022, the LEC saw a “gradual decline in all the main [viewership] metrics,” according to Esports Charts.