The 2020 LCS season was the eighth season of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), a professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. The season was divided into two splits: Spring and Summer. The Spring Split began on January 25 and culminated playoff finals on April 19, 2020. The Summer Split began on June 12 and culminated with the Spring Split finals on September 6, 2020. Most matches were played online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the 2020 season, the league implemented a series of format changes. The league removed the "Championship points" system that was introduced in 2015. In this new structure, victories during the spring split would solely serve to qualify a team for the Mid-Season Invitational. The regional qualifying tournament, which was used to advance teams to the World Championship, was also eliminated. Instead, the top three teams from the summer split playoffs earned the right to advance to the World Championship. The LCS also changed its playoff format to a double-elimination bracket, and the number of teams participating summer playoffs was increased from six to eight.[1]
Spring
The Spring Split regular season ran from January 25 to March 22, 2020.[2] The regular season followed a standard double round-robin format, where each team faced every other team twice, and each game was played in a best-of-one format.[2][3] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, LCS commissioner Chris Greeley announced the suspension of the 2020 season on March 13, 2020, with no definite timeframe for resumption. Subsequently, the LCS resumed its competitions through online play, starting on April 18, 2020.[4][5]
The top six teams from the regular season advanced to the playoffs, a double-elimination tournament, which ran from March 28 to April 19, 2020. The top four teams started in the upper bracket of the playoffs, and the fifth and sixth seeds started in the lower bracket. The top-seeded team had their selection for their first round opponents between the third seed and the fourth seed. The winner of the playoffs would advance to the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).[2] However, the 2020 MSI was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]
The lower bracket final and grand final were planned to take place at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.[7] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was moved to Riot's Los Angeles studio.[8]
The Summer Split regular season was planned to run from June 20 to August 16, 2020.[2] However, due to the cancellation of the 2020 MSI, the starting date was pushed forward to June 13.[12] The Summer Split regular season followed the same format as the Spring Split. The top eight teams from the summer regular season secured spots in the Summer Split playoffs, which ran from August 20 to September 13, 2020. The playoffs played as a featured a double-elimination tournament, with top two teams starting in the upper bracket semifinals, the following four starting in the upper bracket quarterfinals, and the remaining two starting in the lower bracket. The top three teams from the playoffs qualified for the 2020 League of Legends World Championship.[2]
The English broadcast was available on the League of Legends Esports website, as well as on Twitch and YouTube. On January 20, Riot Games announced their official partnership with Chinese streaming service Huya, giving them exclusive rights to the Chinese broadcast.[17] On April 8, it was announced that the spring playoffs would be aired on ESPN2 and the ESPN App.[18]
For the 2020 season, the LCS implemented a revised schedule, featuring broadcasts of matches on Monday evenings called "Monday Night League" in addition to their regularly scheduled Saturday and Sunday broadcasts.[1] In May, the league decided to discontinue Monday Night League in May 2020 due to low viewership. Instead, the league extended its broadcasts to include Friday evenings.[19]
Notes
^The 2020 Mid-Season Invitational was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]
