LCS claims third most popular US professional sports league spot
After its European cousin was renamed to LEC at the start of the 2019 season, this was North America's first year as the true League of Legends Champion Series (LCS).
LCS Prime has been around for a while, however, 2019 already marking its seventh year in operation. Riot Games has now released a set of infographics with some interesting statistics to go with the milestone.
2019 in review
The provided data range from the interesting to the silly. Did you know it was Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg who, with 12609, had the most R presses during the last season? Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon apparently even uses two keys, topping both the Q and E activations with 12602 and 10492, respectively.
There's more interesting things to unpack here as well. For example, the company quotes a Nielsen study which labels the LCS the country's third most popular major professional sports league among 18-34 year-olds. While the study in question has not been made available, the claim is impressive nonetheless.
Riot's post goes on to boast a 53k live audience for its LCS events this year and a $5.44 million boost to the city of Detroit's economy through its hosting of the competition’s Summer Finals. Business-wise things appear to be going well too, with 91% of its partners either returning or on multi year deals already.
On the Rift, Aatrox was the most picked champion, while Irelia was the most banned. It was Ezreal who was the most successful champion of the year, which appears to have involved pressing Q a lot (like.. a lot).
Nam "Lira" Tae-yoo and Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme join Huni as the players who clocked the most games, at 63 each.
LCS to return in January
With numbers like these, it will surprise no-one that the North American league will return next year. The region’s Spring Split is set to start on January 25, 2020.
In related news, the company has announced that it will not be operating a Fantasy league for said Split. It has offered up some suggestions as to third-party replacements.
Image via Riot Games
