LCS's Largest Single Split Growth | Spring 2024 Retro 

This is the best communication the LCS has done since I've been watching. This, as a fan, is a huge deal and a wonderful change for me. Thank you for this video updating everything. I'm excited to continue supporting and watching the product

There's one improvement that I would like to see the LCS make- can you put the Challenger's League games on the main LCS youtube channel after the day of games wraps up? It can be very difficult to find the CL games, and I think it's important for the T2 scene to get as much exposure as possible. The semipros need visibility so that they can build brands and get selected by teams. Overall, this past split was a huge step in the right direction! I hope that Mark and the LCS continue to do what they have been doing to bring our league forward.

As a filthy european i gotta say: i enjoyed the LCS probably ten times more than the LEC this split, ngl. That downsizing really did some good. Keep it going 👍

I only had 2 gripes with Spring LCS. 1) The "3" week break. I get it that it was only 2 weeks, but it felt like 3. 19 days is indeed closer to 21 days. 2) LCS playoffs not being hosted in an arena. It killed a lot of hype for Finals weekend. But other then that, this spring split was one of the better splits in recent years, so Great job to you Mark as well as everyone behind the scenes that never get the recognition they deserve.

I feel like we have heard more from mark in one split then any other comish over their time

MarkZ my GOAT

Love the communication from Mark.

Live patch was an absolutely terrific decision. As a fan I'm really happy with the LCS this season and it actually got me playing league again.

Travis Gafford next video: "MARK Z SAVING THE LCS? OR IS HE JUST SPINNING NUMBERS"

Spring 24 brought me back to watching LCS, cant wait for summer!

I think my main gripe with LCS Spring 2024 was during the break, I needed more content from the LCS team to smooth that break over. I don't need games or like 16 hours of content or whatever 2 weeks of games is, but having a content plan/schedule with ADDED content, (not content that would've been released regardless) during those weeks would help make the break less jarring and help hold interest going into the return week. I think if you make any documentary style content, trying to make it longer form and releasing it during that break would be ideal. Let's say there's a 2 week break during summer. If a 1 hour documentary on NA at MSI could be released halfway through the break, I think that would go a long way for holding interest. I understand that results in a larger investment and time during the weeks with games to make that content, but I think it's important to be more active as a league in that break than yall were during the 2 week break in spring. That was my only real complaint. I also think even if this means releasing less content during the average week to deploy those resources to making content for the break weeks, it is still worth it, but many other fans may disagree there.

Love the use of AMA and Squidwardification within minutes of each other in the same video astounds me but I'm just so happy you're not just taking rising viewership as is and continuing to experiment with new ideas!

Mostly I thought this past split was well done. But I haven't seen any attempt to address the fact that the move to 8 teams while keeping it a double round robin reduced the total number of games by nearly 40%. More games please! The reported single-RR Bo3 for summer still is below the 10 team number of games even if everything goes to 3... and we play more than 4x fewer than LPL or LCK. The LCS averaged exactly 1 game per day over the regular season (56 games, 8 weeks) - I know comparisons don't always work across sports, but I can't think of any league of anything, esport or traditional, that plays so few times during its seasons.

The league is fun now. Just keep focusing on the players and give us more games. We watch because we want to see live league of legends, not people on a couch, so just keep feeding us games and player content and you will continue to succeed. The “3 week break” felt bad because western league was dry at the time and the momentum and hype of the league just fell off a cliff so just try to avoid driving hype and then neutering it immediately XD Good job Mark! One piece of advice. It helps to have someone on the broadcast that is “at work” to legitimize the product. Not everyone needs to be all loosely-goosey-have-fun, someone should remember it’s a broadcast and even when having fun, have the confidence and legitimacy to drive the league forward in a serious tone. I think of people like quickshot, dash, laure, sjokz, and even dgon this split to facilitate this role. I think that’s what’s missing. (Jatt is great for different reasons but he doesn’t have that same charisma) LCS getting rid of Dash was a mistake, getting rid of that role was an even bigger mistake.

LCS needs to play more games! Please!!!

The revival of LCS is on its way, excellent direction for the future!

Thank you so much for doing this Mark! Love to see the transparency and reflection on how the split went. Also, super interesting to hear some of this data. Thanks again!

Great split overall. Was disappointed by the "3" week (though I guess I can agree technically it wasn't 3 weeks lol) break and the "closet" matches, but you can only work with what is given. Other then that. I can't complain. Love the desk hosts, pre game discussions, and the fact that the people at Riot halfway through the split developed a brand new UI feature to display trash talk was brilliant. Hoping for BO3 in summer though.

- More spotlights on the LCS broadcast for Challenger and amateur leagues. Need that visibility to build hype for regional upcoming talent - Bo3's - skimpier outfits fr tho, its been a good split, and you can feel the energy of people trying to give the league new life, keep at it

I am also loving the increased transparency and more explanations of reasons of choice. Love the path LCS is taking thank you for making the viewer experience better and still working to improve it further 🎉💜

i switched from watching a self destroying LEC to a what feels like a newly reborn and better than ever LCS and i absolutely plan on staying, thank you Mark and everyone else who contributed to the league being more fun to watch than ever! (also, i want to shout out the current UI for the LCS games, the best one from all leagues imo) - an european fan ^^

If playing from Phreak's basement during Valorant overlap means we get grungy straight from the kitchen floor videos with pros. I'm all for it.

Who watched this on the LOL Client, and tapped the RU-vid link so they could like it! Awesome job Mark! Thanks for the updates. It's much appreciated.

Great product this split. PROS was a great segment and having guests like Dgon was nice.

Hey! I would love to see BO2 or BO3! It's my first season watching LOL and OH MAN am I enjoying watching the LCS and LCK! Y'all are doing great. If I could only watch one league, it'd be you guys... except for what I mention above: y'all play literally 1/3rd as much as they do. It's sad, so I fill that void by watching the other leagues. Y'all aren't giving me enough LOL! Gimme more LOL! 🙂 A little more feedback: I love the analytical segments. I love the player-centric segments (whether player-involved or player-history (personal or professional)) Really enjoyed The Dive and PROS content, too. Your casters are very high quality. You and the LCK are absolutely top tier... so much so that the LPL team could learn a lot from y'all skills-wise. Please be mindful of the audio issues that cropped up on occasion this split, though. They were notable. About Becoming an Informed Viewer: As a fairly new viewer, I would love to see a hero highlights segment every so often.. something that might help me learn more about the game. I don't play League of Legends. I played for a few months a while back and found that it's not my cup o' tea as a player, but y'all make it a really entertaining viewing experience. That said, I rarely know either what skills a hero has or what items they should build... I only ever know when an item is completed when the casters declare that they are because looking at the super-dense item-bar near the character data at the bottom of the screen... I know no icons and have even less of an idea of what they do or how much they actually matter in the end. Some specific content that I would like to see: 1) I'm sure that my newbness rare among your viewership, but it'd be great to learn about a hero as it gains popularity: what are their primary skills? what's are the most popular ways to build it? What makes jungle Rel distinct from support Rel? When does each variety experience a worthwhile enough power spike that it's worth paying attention to in the game? What item is that power spike most dependent upon? 2) Did you guys know that because of patch changes, the LCS is now leading some of the worldwide meta? ASol hit the LCK only after APA won with it multiple times in one week IIRC. It'd be cool to take a look at that and talk about that. 3) I'm sure that y'all already know this and that she's already got a ton of freedom to roam already, but: Emily Rand is amazing. Do some brainstorming sessions with her and fling some of those ideas at the other casters, too. Let her loose - all her stuff is golden. ...or plaid... or whatever color/pattern she favors most this particular week! 😎 I'd love to see even more of her and her work, but mostly I just want more of her contributions in general. She's always so entertaining, insightful, and heartfelt! 4) Ditch the coach interviews. The coaches keep things way too guarded and don't add anything since they don't want to give up a potential strategic advantage. It'd be cool to hear their thoughts after the fact about something that they were excited to see from their players that we viewers might not have noticed. 5) Can we get some design segments with Riot peeps? Who made the Baron art? Who decided on the different kinds of Barons? Now that we've had a full split with them, how's that change worked out? Is it as they were hoping when they made the changes? Same with the change to the top and bottom brush stuff, and the dragon pit. Make these analytics segments or developer/designer chat segments... whatever you like, but it'd be really cool to see that. 6) With talk about "lane swaps" coming in... I'm wondering about LOL trends that have happened in the past. Are we currently in a support meta? How in the world is Kalista both a potential carry AND support? I'd love to hear about less-typical metas that might be worth keeping an eye out for in this next year of LOL... and being new, I've never heard about anything other than what I'm seeing today. I have no clue how deep that pool of possibilities is to pick from, but I'm really curious about it. Alright, that's it for now. Just wanted to share my own personal feedback. The LCS and LCK have become my favorite show this Spring and I wanted to pipe up and let y'all know that. Y'all rock. Keep up the great work!

You were so close to winning the divey award for best commissioner in your rookie split. I'm sure you'll get there eventually MarkZ. Keep up the good work!

Loving the recent progress and upgrades to LCS. Thank you Mark ❤

Mark, I think I speak for a big portion of LCS fans. Thank you!. I knew you were going to crush this position and I can't thank you enough for all the changes you made for the fans. You and your team did a great job this split. Can't wait to see what else you do for us fans.

“2 week scheduling break” Is the broadcast equivalent of a “7 business day” delivery you ordered on a Thursday, im onto you MarkZ. For real though, the communication is great and I’m glad they’re addressing criticisms and giving some insight into the decision making. I wouldn’t even have minded the break if there was a little more content during the time. We need to start snagging some of the LCK content, the masked 1v1 tournament was hilarious. Pros was a great addition this split, hope that sticks

Was a good split, looking forward to MSI. GO TL/FLY!!

This Spring split was the most engaged I felt with the LCS since Covid lock-in. Between live patch, some great personalities entering or coming back to the league (ie Bwipo), and some fantastic guest commentator / analyst desk appearances (bring Zven on full time!)… it was just a great split with some great games. Finishing off with an absolute banger of a finals. Thanks for the great communication and the entertaining split Mark!

My recommendation as a soft way to get more players to watch, give players who link their account an equivalent amount of Blue Essence for watching games. If they watch 4 games, they get 4 games worth of BE. And I'm not saying much, maybe make it so that by the end of a split it is enough BE to total 1 mid level champ purchase. Let's equate watch game time to played game time. This is cheaper from the live viewing side than purchasing skins from the dev side too.

I think one thing you can keep doing is letting us get to know the players. What you've implemented is already good, and I hope to see more of it! I more so cheer for players than teams with so many roster changes.

All we ever wanted was for management to communicate with us; to tell us what's going on and a general idea of why, sure- but also to listen. Thank you, Mark and Co.

absolutely love the transparency in these videos being willing to talk about both the good and the bad is a huge step up for LCS

yo Mark, you literally FDR with the new deal, pulling LCS out of the great depression. Full support!

Maybe some content for the weekends during the break? Analyst desks, maybe some look into the T2 scene like showcasing some players or teams down there is a good idea

I started watching again because of these changes and because of you, Mark! It was pretty exciting not gonna lie! I am starting to learn about these new players.

I have never been more excited for the LCS leadership.

This is such a great communication ! The work to make it relatable to the consumer base and concise without overly dumbing down the message and data is spot on. As an lcs enjoyer - thanks to everyone involved for the hard work and congrats on a successful spring split

Happy with everything - but please find a way to bring back the hype around finals weekend. The studio is never going to work.

It's so great seeing the hype of having markz as a commissioner actually delivering

I hope they continue to build on this. I don't have much time to catch the actual stream due to work and school, but I love the changes they had. I do catch a stream here and there tho, and I love how quickly the games load up!

Lcs has never been more fun to watch markz thanks

Excellent video. Enjoyed nerding out and frankly also enjoyed watching MarkZ nerd out over the success of his baby. Keep up the good work, LCS team!

i gotta say the overlap faceoff week was indeed my favourite to watch and the most memorable week of the last few years personaly. and i love the transperancy from mark and the LCS. Cant thank you guys enough

Love the open communication but hard disagree about the Squidward meme as LCS was over 2 WEEKS before any other major regions and 3 weeks before LPL finals which is made even more stupid when the Finals was put on Easter weekend. Way to big a break between Spring Finals and MSI start

Absolutely loved watching the LCS last split. MarkZ is moving them in the right direction, the break is what it was. I just wished we had some more content during that time.

Bro markZ killing it in his new position at riot. Loving the transparency and this fans first mentality keep up the incredibly good work and I look forward to viewing the match at MSI and the following summer split of LCS.

Thanks for doing these!

The thing I want the most is a qualifier that feeds semi pro teams into playoffs like the system the challenger league uses! Works very well for csgo. It would work even better in Europe.

Liking the new ideas commish!

I have to say I did feel lower than expected excitement for the playoffs and finals. I'd attribute it most to not having them in a different venue. Hopefully you can make it back to the east coast some day.

Keep up the good work! This is the first time in a while that I've been so invested in the LCS

Lcs aint doing no wrong right now! Cheering for MSI c:

Thanks for the communication!

Thank you MarkZ!! Hyped for NA at MSI and bring on the summer split changes!

This is good transparent communication. Well Done.

Love the new content, love the new comms. Didnt like the break, but it is what it is. Was more invested in LCS than ever

I love Mark. He's freaking awesome!

The thing I miss the most was when the organizations themselves were making the day in the life content and keeping us up to date on what was happening. TSM legends was a great time.

Really enjoyed this last split! Keep it up :)

Lots of information very quickly great video.

Great changes this year/split. Well done to everyone at the LCS. The only two issues I had were: 1) No spring finals at a venue. It killed the higher stakes/hype for playoffs knowing everything was done in the studio they play every week. 2) The 2 week break!

I'm a simple man, I see MarkZ and I click But real talk, the League is BACK!

The content with the players was great this split

If the overlap with VCT or need for the break is an issue going forward, I'd like to see the possibility for smaller road shows to happen. It doesn't have to be a huge arena, just a similar sized venue as LCS studio, but you can travel to different cities and make some unique experiences, provide a small tailgate experience. I appreciate the spectacle of the finals but honestly as a fan I think it would be more fun and impactful for it to be smaller. Just a thought though, wholly optimistic about the product over the coming years! Keep up the good work!

I contributed to those numbers bro, I watched a ton this split and that's because the product was awesome.

Man he was born for commissioner! Well done!

Thanks for spring split, looking forward to summer!

The increase viewership only showed after LEC or CBLOL, when the big co streamers would switch over before ending their streams.

Very enjoyed LCS this split, thanks for good content

Mark out here teaching us how a calendar works 📆 True legend

I have no idea how to do this, but would love if y’all could find a way to do a special subscription service for fans! Even my lower class ass would be happy to shoot a coffee’s worth of dough to my region’s league every now and then. Thanks for all the hard work and keep it up!

8 teams from 10 was tough for me. I value a story of competitive teams, and teams that gotta figure it out to try and make playoffs, or just more storylines. So I tuned out completely for the first time

Love the direction LCS is going, keep it up Mark and more importantly the team.

This is amazing. Thank you.

Quite pleased with Marks work. I also love the transparency. Keep it up Mark!

I really missed the opportunity to see Spring Finals in a big arena. I know, I know…budget and such. But there are plenty of colleges state-side that would have large arenas to play in that are cheaper than say United Center or Prudential Center. Bonus: you could pick a college that has a league team established to give collegiate league teams more exposure. Other than that, great work keeping us all in the loop!

I miss mark on the broadcast but great to see some of the things he’s doing for us viewers

As a european, I have to say that I not only enjoyed LCS more than I did with LEC ever since the franchising, but this split in particular was a great improvement overall.

I know it's been mirrored a few times already in the comments but I also wanted to emphasize the draw of the arena finals weekends. Perhaps at least something that can differentiate from the regular week to week matches. I've been watching the LCS since 2014 and this was definitely the best it's been in awhile from an overall perspective - even if the players and/or teams I used to tune in for are gone now. Keep up the good work!

the 3 week break was rough. I never watch vct so idc if its at the same time as LCS . Excited we are finally getting best of 3s in the summer ..... Its about damn time

He's simply the goat so glad to have him

It was a 3 "work week" break. It was two weeks off for players yes, but as a viewer I had to go 3 work weeks in between viewing games. Seeing as theres only 4 work weeks per month at most (the calendar you held up only had 3.5!), it felt like an extremely long time!

Thanks Mark

Thanks, MarkZ!

Thanks Mark! Understanding English properly, I do realize that it was only a two week break. Let’s go NA greater than EU.

I think a fun idea to help with the break is maybe doing something that's more casual or "for-fun" with LCS players, such as a KR import vs NA talent match or a all-fill match like rift rivals.

Given the severity of the downsizing of the league, I think the 3 week break is the best con to have out of this split. There's demand to watch more LCS! This is good! I hope we can get back to 10 teams soon though, I want more spots for more young talent and I REALLY REALLY want more attention to the amateur scene. It is so crucial to have talent pipelines AND proper monetizing for pros, aspiring pros, and teams so that growth is encouraged. The talent is out there y'all. There is potential for NA to be a serious competitor on the world stage as we have in the past. Let's get there! I believe in MarkZ

i wish you guys had some comunity events or something with co streamers or a tournament on the break. would be so cool.

Thank you Mark, very cool.

MarkZ saved us from the eclipse apocalypse and there's no other way to interpret this.

As I've been seeing in a few other comments below I'd like to see slightly bigger spotlight on challenger (specifically players). It would be great if the most valuable prospect/player award from Challengers was awarded during 3rd place match on finals weekend, since usually the MVP for regular season is done on finals day.. I think Been loving the overall communication towards the fans this season though. Keep it up

Wait, no mention of summer going to BO3s? I enjoyed this spring split a lot, the quick game turnarounds were so nice.

Youre killing it mark, but id really love to see finals have a bigger arena. It sounded like the teams were playing in front of like 20 people

I’ve watched nearly every LCS game since the lock-in in 2021 when I started playing league. I’m really glad you guys are trying to do something about viewership because it has become such a cornerstone in my life to watch the LCS. No other region draws me in the same way. This split did well, I loved the live patch and shorter breaks. I’m going to echo everyone’s sentiment: no more huge break in the middle of the split please! Also we still ended wayyy earlier than all the other regions before MSI. I guess this gives a chance for the teams to “bootcamp” but I really think the hype is decreased for NA at MSI with a month long break between stage performances. Also, I’ve heard rumors about Bo3 coming in for summer, which is GREAT if true, if not, please make it true. With less teams and a closer league overall I think it’s the perfect time to finally switch over. I want more games! Also, I miss Dash. Not saying you have to bring him back or that he would even come back after he was just thrown away so flippantly, but I just wanted to mention it. He brought a lot to the broadcast. I think in general, the broadcast talent is pretty good as it is, though I still really miss Markz :( I think we really need to train 1 more play-by-play caster to be top tier and just stick with them. No shade to Rafaa, but I’m not sure he’s the one. Kind of like Letigress. I watch all of the games anyway, but I know and can imagine more casual viewers might be put off when one of the dream teams isn’t up there casting. Wonder if there is any statistically significant change to viewership based on the talent. Regardless of if there is, I think it will just make the show BETTER, which is important. Also wanted to shout out Emily, I’m so glad they have given her a bigger role. Also, I loved MrsChimChim coming on! I had never seen her before but thought she was a great addition. Pls continue the improvements. Advertise more. Get riot to give NA players more incentive to watch. Put it in the league client, do giveaways or more watch time rewards. Please. I don’t want this region to die.

I think it would be great if we could have more games for the split. Only having 8 teams had the bonus of more competitive games and less “fatigue” for a day of watching but it also leaves the split with few games overall and fewer days of games since we’re locked into this 2 round robin a split format. I think a third round robin would give us more games to help our teams flesh out who they are and so that we don’t need a 2.5 week break to end the seasons closer to when other regions do. It feels like forever waiting for MSI

Biggest thing id like to see is an lcs fantasy platform. Sleeper has "worked" thus far, but it has ended up breaking completely for a couple weeks for each of the last 3 splits, and i can't imagine moving to bo3 will help in that regard. It doesn't have to be fancy or include any new or special features. Just something that makes fantasy possible, and (hopefully) someone taking 30 min at the end of each week to check if points are adding correctly, subs don't crash things, tiebreaker games don't break everything, etc.

Finals needs to be scaled up, full stop. We don’t need an 18,000 capacity venue. I think a 2,000 capacity theater would actually feel more hype. Great split otherwise.