Riot reveals the schedule of the new NA Challengers League

Riot appears to be taking action by developing a new and effective tournament circuit in response to the lack of a strong developmental program for amateur players.

As revealed by Riot earlier, the North American League of Legends Academy and Proving Grounds event will be replaced by the North American Challengers League in the upcoming season. Riot has released the complete NACL format and schedule, which will begin on January 21. The schedule also reveals that promotion tournaments would resume in North America beginning in late April.

The NACL, which will take place throughout the year, will pit 16 teams against one another in Spring and Summer Split with each split consisting of three stages — Regular Season, Playoffs, and Promotion Tournament. Ten of the sixteen teams competing are former Academy teams, while the remaining six teams are provisional teams selected by a selection committee from a pool of amateur organization applicants.

North American Challengers League schedule for 2023

• Regular Season: January 21 to March 6
• Playoffs: March 11 to March 29
• Promotion Tournament: April 17 to April 23

The Academy teams have secured spots in the NACL and they cannot be relegated from the league. Following each split, the top four teams from the open NACL Qualifiers and the bottom four Provisional Teams will fight for the four NACL seats in the NACL Promotion Tournament. The first round of open qualifications for the promotion tournament, which is slated to take place in late April, is another noteworthy event that will take place in late January. The remaining four of the eight teams that compete in the Promotion Tournament will be chosen from each split’s NACL Qualifiers. 

Throughout the first split of the NACL, any amateur organization with an eligible roster can compete in open qualifiers to topple the Challengers League’s poorest teams. The first NACL Qualifier and the NACL Spring Split will both start on January 21. As Riot tries to best accommodate semi-pro player obligations, Challengers League matches will mostly be played remotely and on the weekends.

Riot plans to nurture North American talent through NACL

Riot has taken significant steps to nurture more talent in North America, outfitting the league with a regular season, playoffs, and relegation system. All NACL participants will have their contracts recorded on Riot’s official database to reinforce the league’s more official identity, which would make it simpler for LCS teams to evaluate and scout players according to their fit. Additionally, the LCS pros and NACL prospects can mix even more in the new system since all NACL players will have access to Champions Queue.

Furthermore, as part of its broadcast schedule revision for 2023, Riot recently switched the LCS match days from weekends to weekdays. With the LCS and NACL taking place on different dates, the goal is to attract a North American fan base that has a top-tier NA League to watch during the weekdays as well as the weekends.

Header: Riot Games