League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) and the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) are some of the most established esports leagues on the planet.
Representing the upper tiers of competitive gaming, it’s no wonder that South Korea and China have produced some of the most formidable LoL teams of all time.
Both countries have turned out their fair share of champion teams. Edward Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and Invictus Gaming all emerged from the LPL to dominate the competition at the League of Legends World Championship.
However, no country comes close to South Korea as far as first-place finishes are concerned.
DRX, Damwon Gaming, and Samsung Galaxy have all been crowned winners at Worlds finals, but it’s the legendary T1 roster that has raked in more wins than any other team.
As both leagues have been around for so long, the broadcast schedules of the LCK and LPL have changed considerably over the years.
A Broadcast History Of The LCK
South Korea birthed the modern-day esports movement. Unsurprisingly, it was here where League of Legends found one of its most enthusiastic fanbases, with a South Korean league quickly being established.
As of 2023, T1 has taken the top prize at the LCK an incredible 10 times. Although their closest rivals Gen.G might have only won the LCK four times, they have enjoyed a pretty impressive run during the 2022 and 2023 playing seasons.
The LCK is one of the longest-running esports leagues in the world. As such, it’s experienced many overhauls to tournament structure and broadcast schedules.
Many esports rosters have to wait years before their match appearances are broadcast on television. This wasn’t the case for LoL teams based in South Korea.
As soon as League servers became available in this Asian nation, the game started to receive significant coverage from Ongamenet, a Korean broadcaster that spearheaded the development of South Korea’s first LoL tournament.
Initially called The Champions Spring, this successful event brought together 16 of the best LoL teams in the country. A summer edition and winter season would quickly be introduced.
The Champions League Gets A Makeover
In 2014, this burgeoning league underwent its first metamorphosis. The original name was dropped and replaced with its current one, while the tournament structure was streamlined to remove the winter playing season.
The number of competing teams was also reduced from 16 to 10. Rather than resign themselves to relegation, many teams decided to merge their rosters.
Ongamenet, which later rebranded to OGN, remained the sole broadcaster for the LCK until 2016.
However, they eventually agreed to share broadcasting rights with SPOTV Games, the sister station of the South Korean sporting network, SPOTV.
Riot Games Takes the Reins
In 2019, Riot Games caused a stir when the developer announced that it would be taking charge of broadcasting for the LCK.
Some people were suspicious about how well Riot Games could pull the transition off. However, any misgivings were quickly put to rest.
Adopting a more traditional format than in previous years, Riot Games partnered with free-to-air South Korean channels like SBS AfreecaTV to make LCK matches as accessible as possible.
English subtitles were also introduced for the first time in an attempt to broaden the appeal of this standout league.
A Look Back At The LPL
In China, it’s the LPL that dominates top-tier League of Legends competition. Although the current tournament is far bigger than other leagues, it was initially heavily inspired by the LCK format.
In 2017, the LPL dropped this approach and adopted the standard season model of the EU LCS.
Since 2019, the regular season of the LPL sees all participating teams play against each other in a single round-robin tournament. The best eight teams progress to the playoff stages.
Riot Games Reaches Out To China
As with the LCK, Riot Games took a keen interest in what Chinese esports organizers were doing with its flagship title.
Originally, Riot Games had been keen to take over the LPL from Chinese conglomerate Tencent.
However, Tencent refused an outright sale but did eventually agree to a joint venture that benefited both parties. This partnership would become known as TJ Sports.
Even before this, Riot Games had been too keen to capitalize on the global interest in Chinese esports.
The developer decided to produce an English broadcast of LPL events in 2014, greatly extending the reach of the emerging esports market.
Chinese Streaming Platforms Secure Live Broadcast Rights
In 2020, TJ Sports signed a deal with video-sharing website Bilibili worth an estimated $113 million, allowing the platform to stream international LPL and LoL events in China.
In 2021, TJ Sports would strike an agreement with Huya, another Chinese streaming platform.
This deal was reported to be worth an incredible $310 million, with Huya getting exclusive broadcasting rights to the LPL for five years.
The Latest Broadcast Changes To The LPL And LCK
There are now 17 teams participating across the Summer and Spring LPL schedule, making it the most crowded of any Tier 1 tournament.
The LCK might only allow 10 teams, but a preference for best-of-three matches means fans have a lot of content to get through.
In 2022, Riot Games looked to revamp the broadcast schedules of both League of Legends and Valorant.
These scheduling changes aim to improve the experience for audiences while offering ways to introduce new content ideas and experiment with fresh formats.