Riot Games announced that there were 21 companies that applied for the 2021 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) franchising. Among the companies that submitted an LOI, Griffin, NRG Esports, and FaZe Clan didn’t apply. 

Besides these teams, Pittsburgh Knights and Treasure Hunter have signed partnerships with other teams that applied for the franchising. Gamer Republic, Inc didn’t submit an LOI, but applied for the franchising.

Among the 18 teams from LCK and Challengers Korea, Griffin was the only team to not apply. Riot Games will be evaluating the applicants for about two months and will be announcing the final results by the end of September.

The applicants are as follows: hyFresh Blade, Element Mystic, SANDBOX Gaming, Jin Air Green Wings, Awesome Spear, Afreeca Freecs, Runaway, DAMWON Gaming, SeolHaeOne Prince, OZ Gaming, kt Rolster, Team Dynamics, Hanwha Life Esports, ESC Shane, DRX, Gen.G, T1, World Game Star, Gamer Republic, Inc., WDG.