Trouble in the North America League of Legends Champions Series: what's known about Counter Logic Gaming's departure from the esports and what the NRG has to do with it

Some disappointing news is coming out of North America. It appears that the region's premier franchise race, the North America League of Legends Champions Series, will be abandoned by Counter Logic Gaming, who have played in the LCS since its inception.

CLG's possible "demise" as an esports organization and their potential departure from the NA LCS was discussed by reporter Travis Gafford, who has connections in the North American esports industry. We have watched Travis' video and are retelling the main messages of the video, adding our thoughts on the situation.

CLG fires all employees, including CLG CEO Greg Kim and leaves the discipline

According to the reporter, the entire CLG staff has been notified of "permission to consider new career options" outside CLG. In simple terms, the North American club's staff are to be made redundant and the staffing changes will be global: CLG CEO Greg Kim will also be made redundant.

The reason for the possible departure of CLG from LCS, according to Gafford, said the owners of the club, Madison Square Garden, to close the vertical in general and the League of Legends in particular. For those not in the know: Madison Square Garden became the owner of Counter Logic Gaming back in 2017.

CLG's departure from League of Legends would create a reputational loss for the North American League's competitive ecosystem, as CLG is one of the region's main and oldest tags. The club has been on the professional scene in League of Legends since 2010, and they got their place in the LCS today franchise at the Long Cognega of the series, in 2013.

It's worth understanding that there is no official confirmation yet, but according to the same Travis, Counter Logic Gaming's exit from LCS will happen this Thursday, March 6. In favor of the veracity of the reporter's information are recent news related to another top club in the region - TSM.

How CLG's departure from League of Legends synergises with TSM

On the last day of March, Sports Business Journal released a report on the US organisation TSM. According to it, the title club is planning to take a "pause" in the eSports industry by freezing several of its divisions in popular games: VALORANT, Apex Legends and League of Legends. The latter is a particularly worrying call, given the news about CLG.

TSM is one of the oldest members of the North America League of Legends Champions Series, having been involved in the competition since 2013. Along with CLG, they are the only team to have played in all the LCS splits in history.

As in the case of CLG, information regarding TSM is at the level of rumour and insider information, but has no direct confirmation. The latter, however, is indirectly served by the sad trend in LCS news: when news of the possible departure of two "mastodons" from the discipline appears at weekly intervals, it is clearly no coincidence and not a fabrication.

Is the CLG's performance the main cause of all the woes?

Considering the potentially drastic changes to the competitive scene in the North American League of Legends, one wants to get to the bottom of the reasons for such occurrences. Apparently, the answer lies on the surface: teams are unprofitable and unpromising.

Without going into the inner workings of CLG and the club's accounting department, it's clear that the team's expenses exceed its revenues. The last time the club reached the LCS prize money was back in 2019, at the LCS 2019 Summer Playoffs, where the team earned $25,000 for 3rd place in the championship.

The prize is several times less than the salary of a single squad member. According to the LCS rules summary back in 2019, club members must earn at least $75,000 per year.

Naturally, some of the costs were covered by club sponsors and income from the North America League of Legends Champions Series franchise, but it still wasn't possible to cover the costs, or we wouldn't be writing this text.

CLG's problems are real, but there are positives in the story. The current CLG squad can continue to play the LCS under a new brand, NRG.

NGR is a prime candidate to replace CLG: what is known about the club from Los Angeles

A place in the American LCS is still a desirable passive for the big market players and Counter Logic Gaming quickly found "buyers" for the slot. From the looks of things, CLG's residency in the title league will be absorbed by NRG.

Los Angeles-based club Travis Gafford have been named as potential buyers of CLG's assets, i.e. their roster. The organization could make a comeback in the discipline and return to the League of Legends after seven years.

NRG is a North American club headquartered in Los Angeles. The organisation was established in 2015 and operates squads in Apex Legends, VALORANT, Rocket League and other disciplines. NRG had attempts to gain a foothold at the top of the League of Legends competition scene in 2016: they lasted one season on the scene, finished top 5 at the 2016 NA LCS Spring and top 9 at the 2016 NA LCS Summer.

From The International yeresny - NRG's earnings. According to Forbes, NRG's earnings in 2022 were $240,000,000, which is easy to believe: the club has an audience of 77,000,000 people per month and video content from NRG was watched by 2 billion users last year.

There has been no official announcement from the potential owner of CLG's place in the LCS, and one should not expect them before Thursday. It's also unclear if NRG will buy CLG, what form it will take: a takeover of the League of Legends team, a buyout of the LCS seat, a rebranding of CLG to NRG. The questions are many and we will soon find out the answer.