Riot Korea made the final announcement on which 10 organizations have signed their contracts for franchising within the LCK.

After two evaluation processes conducted internally, Riot Games announced the ten preferred teams that will be joining the LCK for the 2021 season. Since then, Riot Korea has been in negotiations with the teams that have made it on the preferred list. All those teams on the preferred list have made their initial application payment on October 30th, and earned their spot in the LCK next year. Teams that were already in the LCK will have to make the payment of 10,000,000,000 KRW (~8,805,460 USD) over the next five years, while those newly joining the LCK will have to make the payment of 12,000,000,000 KRW (~10,566,552 USD) over the same period of time.

The organizations that have finalized their spot in the LCK next year are the following:

- ADE Sports (DAMWON Gaming)

- AfreecaTV (Afreeca Freecs)

- Brion Esports (HyFresh Blade)

- DRX

- Gen.G esports

- Hanwha Life INsurance (Hanwha LIfe Esports)

- KT Sports (KT Rolster)

- SANDBOX Gaming

- SK Telecom CS (T1)

- Team Dynamics

In order for LCK to become a sports league that can be enjoyed by many generations, and to have a self-sustaining infrastructure, Riot Games will be creating a separate corporate body for the LCK. As the revenue from the LCK will not only provide financial trust and transparency, it’ll also provide efficiency towards participating in making critical decisions. Sang-heon Oh, the director of esports business at Riot Korea, will be the head of the LCK.

As the 10 organizations chosen will become part of a single community that’s known as the LCK, information such as how the league divides its operational revenue will be shared among one another. Mechanisms such as the relegation system being discontinued, and with a newly formed academy league and better player support, teams will be able to operate under a more stable manner. The LCK will be revitalized into a competitive esports league that the teams, players and the fans will all be satisfied with.

In preparation for LCK’s franchising next year, there will be a special negotiation period granted to all the players and the coaching staff under the teams that didn’t make LCK franchising. It’ll start on Nov. 3rd, and will end on the third Monday of November (UTC), which is right before the official off-season FA period starts. More information with regards to this will be shared later. Details of LCK’s 2021 season will be revealed before the start of the Spring split.