League of Legends: LCS Announces New 2020 Format

The 2020 season of the LCS and Academy gets underway in a matter of weeks and the LCS has now revealed their plans for what 2020 will bring.

The most notable addition to the LCS schedule is both the increase of game days and how they’ll utilize the Academy matches.  As seen below, Friday will start things off with Academy Rush, a new show that will air on Fridays at 5PM PT and will feature 4 Academy games played simultaneously and the 5th and final game shown in full. This will be followed by a game each on Saturday and Sunday and three final games on Monday.

As for the LCS, we’ll see four games each played on Saturday and Sunday with a final two games played on the new Monday Night League. The two Saturday and Sunday games will be followed by the one Academy game, a move surely aimed at retaining viewers from the main broadcast. This is the sort of TV schedule you’ll have seen for years in more traditional broadcasting.

LCS playoffs and Worlds qualification are the next things to change. The points-based qualification from previous years is now gone, with Worlds qualification happening exclusively in the Summer split. The Spring Split playoffs will operate as seen below and take place over four weeks with the six highest-placed teams from the regular season moving into a Best of 5 bracket. The eventual winner of this will then be the LCS representative at MSI.

Moving into the Summer Split, the top eight sides will head into a winner’s and loser’s bracket as seen below. The top three sides from this format will then represent the LCS at Worlds, with the final game-winner, of course, being crowed the LCS Summer Champions.

The Key Dates

LCS Spring Split Start Date: Saturday, January 25

LCS Spring Split Regular Season: January 25 – March 22

LCS Spring Playoffs: March 28 – April 19

LCS Summer Split Start Date: Saturday, June 20

LCS Summer Split Regular Season: June 20 – August 16

LCS Summer Playoffs: August 20 – September 13

Academy Spring Split Start Date: Friday, January 24

Academy Spring Split Regular Season: January 24 – March 22

Academy Spring Playoffs: March 26 – April 10