For the League of Legends scene in North America, there's no event bigger than the NA LCS -- the North America League Championship Series, which takes place at Riot Games’ NA LCS Studio in Santa Monica. The games played here are high stakes, with only the top teams making it to the World Championship where they can compete for the international title. The logistics of planning and executing these games year-round are a massive undertaking, the scale of which might surprise you.
With millions of people watching online, there’s a lot of pressure in putting on such a big show, and it take many people working together to pull it off. From video and sound producers to IT specialists, on-camera talent, and make-up, the production behind-the-scenes involves dozens of people across a wide variety of disciplines. To better understand how all these moving parts work together, we spoke with those inside and outside of the company about what goes executing this impressive broadcast, and how it’s raising the bar for other esports.
We spoke with the Commissioner of the NA LCS at Riot Games, Chris Greeley, who noted the growth of the league and live show is exciting for the crew and fans alike. "When you look at the venues that they go to, including Oracle Arena [home of the NBA's Golden State Warriors] this year, and the growth of production team, the production quality, and the casters, it's just--from a fan perspective--such an exciting thing to watch. I feel like my fandom has grown up with the League."
When asked about the future of the NA LCS production, Greeley spoke about the team's ambition, saying, "My best vision of the NA LCS production is that our people continue to get better and strive so that the production is better week over week and just continue that hunger so that we're never hitting that ceiling in production quality."
Check out the full episode of Chronicle above. For even more, check out our previous episodes on the science behind esports, and why some in the NBA are betting big on competitive gaming.
