LAN event operator DreamHack will be running the UK League Championship (UKLC) from Spring 2020.
DreamHack will be taking over as organiser of the UK’s main League of Legends competition, after LVP stepped back from running the UKLC.
The UKLC Spring 2020 Split will feature eight teams (including Fnatic Rising and Excel Esports) and a £60,000 prize pool, with a double best-of-one round robin format.
This is different from the UKLC this year, which had nine teams taking part, a tower format and revenue-based incentives for teams, rather than a traditional prize pool.
UKLC Spring 2020 will comprise seven weeks of league play, running from February 4th to March 18th 2020.
Semi-finals will take place on March 23rd and the grand finals will get underway on March 29th from the DreamHack Studio in Stockholm, Sweden.
Viewers will be able to follow the action live via twitch.tv/dreamhacklol.
DreamHack will also be handling the return of the League of Legends Nordic Championship for Spring 2020. This also features eight teams, but has a 200,000 SEK prize pool and will feature open qualifiers. It’s likely the UKLC will have a selection process for teams like it did last time.
“DreamHack and Riot Games have been partners for many years, and we are avid fans of League of Legends,” said Marcus Lindmark, Co-CEO of DreamHack,
“We are very excited to continue to support League of Legends through the Nordic Championship, as well as expanding to running the UKLC in spring. For the summer split and beyond our ambitions are even bigger and we are excited to share more details in 2020.”
Marcus Lindmark, DreamHack
“We’re really happy to be expanding our work with DreamHack,” said Mo Fadl, Head of Publishing for Riot in the Nordics.
“We’ve been working hard with their talented team to level up the regional league for League of Legends in the Nordics in time for the Spring Split. We’ll also be drawing on DreamHack’s expertise to operate the UKLC over the course of the Spring Split.
“UKLC is a longer term project and we’re looking to roll out the new-look ecosystem for the Summer Split.”
More info on the future of the UKLC will be coming in Q1 2020.
Diabolus withdraw from the UKLC
UK esports organisation Diabolus, who picked up solid results in the UKLC this year and qualified for the EU Masters, have announced they are stepping back from UK League of Legends.
The organisation cited ‘very little organic growth’ in the UKLC and said they were going to focus on other games going forwards, including World of Warcraft.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we can no longer justify committing resources into UK League of Legends,” Diabolus said in a statement by CEO Ash Boycott and head of operations Jack Fenton.
Diabolus’ full statement can be found in the tweet below:
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
