Sheep Esports has reported that Riot Games is planning to add a third international tournament to the League of Legends esports calendar in 2025.
The report claims the event will slot between the Winter and Spring Splits, and host at least one team from each major region. The LEC is one of the few major leagues to have a Winter Split, and with the adoption of a third international tournament, other leagues will presumably have to change to a three-split structure as well.
The LCS has reportedly been tinkering with adopting a three-split structure, however, Riot Games has yet to confirm the change in their international, or LCS, schedule.
This change has been in the news before, with one industry figure claiming the new international event and three-split structure was coming in 2024. While the major leagues have not restructured in 2024, Riot added another event to the international League competitive schedule, the Esports World Cup, which is a third-party tournament unattached to the developer’s circuit.
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The introduction of a third big LAN event will also impact the dates for the two other international events, MSI and Worlds. The new event would take place between March and April, so MSI would need to be pushed into June or July, and Worlds would presumably start in October or later.
League esports has been saddled with just two international tournaments for years now and Riot seems to be looking for ways to increase high-stakes matches with international glory on the line, over drawn-out regular season games.
Riot’s next update about the competitive League schedule for 2025 is set to come in June. The developer’s other major esports title, Valorant, is also expected to see major format changes in the 2025 season.