While the two most successful League of Legends regions internationally employ best-of-three formats, it does not look like the format is coming to Europe’s top league anytime soon.
LEC commissioner Maximilian Peter Schmidt said today it is “highly unlikely” the league will move to a best-of-two or best-of-three format because the “general perception around our format is very positive.” The LEC, like North America’s LCS, plays best-of-one matches during the regular season.
In a Twitter thread regarding the format topic, Schmidt said he is not “fundamentally opposed” to another format and that if the viewers wanted either best-of-two or best-of-three matches, he would consider it. He did say, however, that while the other formats more accurately determine the better team, they require more of a time commitment from the viewer, make scheduling more difficult, and allow fewer chances of an upset.
He also said the LEC is doubling its viewership key performance indicators (KPI), which is a reason the league would not want to change its format.
The EU LCS, which was rebranded to the LEC before the 2019 season, previously used best-of-two and best-of-three formats. For one split, the 2016 Summer Split, the EU LCS teams played in best-of-two matches. The league shifted to a best-of-three format for the next split, but that only lasted for one season before moving back to best-of-ones.
The Chinese LPL and Korean LCK both have best-of-three regular season matchups. Historically, the two leagues are the most successful in international competitions, with an LCK team winning the World Championship five times and the LPL winning it the last two years.
