Riot Games tried to make a splash for the 2025 League of Legends season in North and South America with the League of Legends Championship of the Americas (LTA) structure.
But when things didn’t go as it expected, the company opted to change course from the LTA and move back to the North American League of Legends Championship Series for 2026, instead of doubling down on keeping the 2025 format.
"We were happy to unwind that best we can back to the 2024 model and get back to focusing on just North and South America within their own rights,” LCS commissioner Mark Zimmerman said. “What we've seen so far, fans have been pretty happy with the job we've done in setting up 2026.”
LTA a ‘gamble’ fans didn’t prefer
2025 saw the regional approach of the LCS and its South American counterpart, Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL), disappear in favor of a cross-regional season.
“We tried to create this umbrella LTA structure around North and South America, have the conference system and all these different things,” Zimmerman said. “We saw it as an opportunity to provide a bigger scope and stage to what a usual regional competition is.”
The format met fan criticism with much of it revolving around the tournament structure which differed from the other League of Legends regions – the other reasons featured a double-elimination format while some of the LTA events featured single-elimination playoffs.
There were also concerns that the talent gap between the North American teams and the South American teams was too drastic, highlighted by the North American teams dominating in the first Split by winning eight of nine matches when the two regions were faced against each other.
Combined with the logistical challenges that come with coordinating between two continents, the endeavor proved to have too many challenges to sustain.
“We learned was trying to do too much with too little,” Zimmerman said. “Fans definitely let us know that they preferred the more direct regional approach.”
LTA’s mission lives on
Not all LTA elements disappeared for the 2026 season.
One of the goals of having a cross-regional rivalry between North and South America lives in the form of the Americas Cup, which is set to take place sometime after the Lock-In Tournament.
The winner of the Americas Cup earns a spot in the mid-season global event, Mid-Season Invitational, in Korea, along with a boot camp with the best teams in the world.
“Riot believes the boot camp is helping drive this positive trajectory for the competitiveness of the Americas regions on the global stage,” Zimmerman said. “They want to continue investing in initiatives like the boot camp to help the regions improve and be more competitive at international events like World [Championships]."
The LTA also aimed to elevate the South American region to improve its overall presence in the overall global stage. Despite dominated early in the season by North American teams, the South American teams improved as the season progressed.
“We saw improvement across the year where they kind of got defeated pretty handily in Split One,” Zimmerman said. “By Split Three, there were a number of five-game series that were pretty close.”
While the LTA didn’t last more than one year, the desire to improve the Americas to compete against the eSports hotbed of Korea remains one of the top priorities.
“It's why we don't want to completely abandon everything about the Americas approach,” Zimmerman said. “We're trying to roll forward the parts that we think do scale into the future.”
New fans welcome to witness events
The LCS began its 13th season with Split One on Jan. 24 at the Riot Games Studios in Los Angeles.
Split 1 starts with a the first of a three-round Swiss, which is a tournament format where teams play against teams with similar records without having to play the same team more than once. This stage runs until Feb. 8.
The top six teams from the Swiss round move into the LCS Playoffs, starting Feb. 14, with the finals happening March 1.
The winners earn a spot in the first global event of the season, League of Legends First Stand Tournament, in Brazil from March 16-22.
The fans are invited to watch the events first-hand on the LCS’s Twitch channel, leading up to the final weekend where fans can take part in a tailgate prior to the matches at Riot Games’ Los Angeles-based studio.
“We have fan activities,” Zimmerman said. ‘This allows fans to get to meet players, interact with the game, see cosplays, see all these cool things. I like the other elements around the sports side. It's a great way for [fans] to get invested in League, or, if you're already a League fan, reignite any of the love that you have for the game."
