Riot Games Sends Every LCP Team Home to Domestic Leagues in 2027

Riot Games will restructure the League of Legends Championship Pacific from 2027, with every team starting each split in its domestic league and the best qualifying for the LCP as the region’s bracket stage. The company announced the change on September 21, 2026, in a LoL Esports post titled “A More Open LCP Ecosystem in 2027”.

Under the new structure, all teams will begin each split at the domestic level, competing in the PCS, VCS, and LJL. The best teams then qualify for the LCP, which becomes the bracket stage where the region’s top teams come together to compete for regional glory and qualification to global events.

What Stays and What Changes

The LCP will remain the pinnacle of LoL Esports competition in the APAC region and the sole pathway into global events for APAC teams. Riot said it wants to retain what it envisioned for the league from the start: a platform where the best teams compete against each other and raise competitive strength through top tier regional competition.

What changes is the route in. Under the current structure, domestic teams have only one chance each year to compete for an LCP spot through the Promotion Series, and only one or two teams from each league get that opportunity. From 2027, every team in the PCS, VCS, and LJL competes for a spot at the LCP each split, giving more teams a direct route from domestic competition to the LCP and, ultimately, global events.

Riot said its goal is to create more opportunities through a more open competition, keeping the path into the LCP accessible across APAC and maintaining the diverse representation it described as important and unique to the ecosystem.

Wild Card regions will continue to have a path into the LCP, with Riot saying it looks to strike the right balance between competitiveness and regional representation. Details such as slot distribution and format will come in the coming months, and organizers who want to run their own Wild Card tournament that connects directly to the LCP can look out for application details soon.

Why Riot Is Making the Change

The announcement said the league fell short in some areas over its first two years. It was costly for teams that had to relocate to Taipei, with expenses continuing to rise, and being away from home regions limited opportunities for teams to engage directly with their local fan bases and build stronger connections with the communities that support them. Many players also spent extended periods away from their homes and support networks, which Riot said can be challenging over the course of a long season.

By allowing teams to move home, Riot said it hopes to significantly reduce operating costs while opening doors for better engagement with fans and partners. Moving back will also reduce time away from friends and family for most players, which the company said should provide a better environment for them to grow and compete in.

On the fan side, Riot said in-person opportunities to connect have been hard to come by with many teams competing away from their home regions, making it difficult for teams to build deeper connections with their fan base. With teams returning to their domestic leagues, the company hopes to create more interaction and engagement, and an end-to-end fan journey that starts from the domestic competitions, runs through the LCP, and finishes at global events.

Global Revenue Pool Terms for 2027

Riot described the Global Revenue Pool (GRP) as one of the most meaningful sources of stable, recurring revenue for its teams since its introduction, with the Regional GRP growing direct financial support for LCP teams over time.

In the 2027 season, Regional GRP will continue to be granted to current LCP teams, including those that earn promotion or successfully defend their spot in the upcoming Promotion Series. For teams entering the Promotion Series, their spot in the LCP carries with it a direct share of the GRP.

Teams that successfully qualify for global events will also be eligible to receive Global Event GRP. Riot said the ceiling for what a team can earn is set by how far they go, not merely by where they started, and that the changes are designed to improve team sustainability and provide long-term success in the sport.

The LCP’s First Two Seasons

Riot said it launched the LCP to showcase the region’s best talents, introduce diverse matchups, and create fresh rivalries, while raising the competitive strength of its teams through more regular inter-regional competition, with the long-term ambition of closing the gap with the strongest regions in the world.

The 2025 LCP Mid Season Finals reached nearly 500,000 peak viewership, which Riot called its largest viewership to date. CTBC Flying Oyster finished in the top 8 at Worlds 2025, the first time since 2015 that an APAC team advanced to the Worlds Quarterfinals, according to the announcement. In the 2026 season, Team Secret Whales swept all LCP titles and became the first APAC team to defeat an LPL team in a BO5. Riot also credited the Promotion Series with widening access to the APAC ecosystem by giving Wild Card regions a path into the LCP.

Riot said it will release more information about the 2027 season through its social channels, with Wild Card slot distribution and format details due in the coming months.