LEC ends Saudi partnership with NEOM following community backlash

UPDATE (July 30th 2020): Riot Games’ LEC has ended its partnership with NEOM in less than 24 hours after announcing it.

Riot said in a statement: “As a company and as a league, we know that it’s important to recognise when we make mistakes and quickly work to correct them. After further reflection, while we remain steadfastly committed to all of our players and fans worldwide including those living in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, the LEC has ended its partnership with NEOM, effective immediately.

“In an effort to expand our esports ecosystem, we moved too quickly to cement this partnership and caused rifts in the very community we seek to grow. While we missed our own expectations in this instance, we’re committed to reexamining our internal structures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

You can also watch a good analysis of this news by Richard Lewis here.

Original article (published July 29th 2020): Riot Games has come under fire from the League of Legends community – including members of its own team – over a new sponsorship deal.

Riot’s European Championship, the LEC, announced NEOM as a main partner for the summer season.

NEOM is a tech city being developed in Saudi Arabia, a country with archaic and barbaric views towards LGBTQ+ individuals.

For the LEC, an esports league that is currently displaying its logo on socials with pride colours, and a game in League of Legends that often runs events to celebrate diversity, Riot has been accused of hypocritical behaviour.

Blast has also faced a similar backlash for its partnership with NEOM too.

Riot said in its announcement: “NEOM has their sights set on the future – and to help future-proof the LEC stage, they’ll be sponsoring the Oracle Lens during live broadcasts which helps players predict the next moves a team will make.

“Starting from Summer Week 7, NEOM joins Kia, Alienware, and KitKat, completing the lineup of our main partners for this season.”

The community is not happy with Riot’s decision – you can see some reactions from UK personalities and people within the LEC casting and production team below.

LEC/Riot staff, casters and others react

I am terribly disappointed.

— Eefje Depoortere (@sjokz) July 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/Froskurinn/status/1288441863540703232

I cannot express how frustrated and disappointed I am with #LEC today.

— Medic (@MedicCasts) July 29, 2020

How very upsetting #LEC

— Andy Day (@Vedius) July 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/Quickshot/status/1288439332169277440

https://twitter.com/StressCasts/status/1288436615266869248

Disappointment is an understatement.

— Laure Valée (@LaureBuliiV) July 29, 2020

fuck

— ender (@endercasts) July 29, 2020

There have been many good days to be a member of the #LEC team, today is not one of those days.

— Drakos (@DanielDrakos) July 29, 2020

At Riot we have spent years coming together, sharing, listening, I believe genuinely trying to improve inclusivity. Today we took a step off that path and failed. That step was heartbreaking and requires intense reflection and action. The next step speaks volumes to the future.

— Eggo McLego (@AmbrielleArmy) July 29, 2020

UK/Ireland esports community reacts

#LEC had done such a good job of building itself as one of the most likeable broadcasts in esports. All that down the drain in one announcement.

This new partnership is so tone-deaf it's almost unfathomable

— Foxdrop (@Foxdroplol) July 29, 2020

Reminder of what your #LEC crew actually stands for. pic.twitter.com/QJzgQuD4fp

— Foxdrop (@Foxdroplol) July 29, 2020

Ironic: donning an LGBT logo whilst supporting a project led by a country that treats LGBT citizens how it does.

— Dezachu (@Dezachu) July 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/kiandymundi/status/1288546270743756800

https://t.co/xkGOtFh5J3
It's not perfect, but I needed to put what I'm feeling into words. We cannot stay silent in the face of injustice, and we must use our platforms however we can to protect human rights. #LEC

— meg kay (@_megito) July 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/HuskerIE/status/1288484471868719104

🏳️‍🌈❤️

— Joel (@JoelHDarby) July 29, 2020

Incredibly sad to see the league perceived and branded as the most "progressive" in our scene double back on the standards it set. #LEC

— Munch (@HeyMunchables) July 29, 2020

If you work in League of Legends or at Riot and you tweet about the "horror" of the US political landscape while ignoring and promoting this move, you are a special kind of hypocrite.https://t.co/20PB8wK9CH

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) July 29, 2020

Gbay is outside the UK and Ireland, but he made a valid point worth highlighting:

For anyone arguing about the #LEC partnership by saying "but what about china???"

Having a chinese conglomerate own a controlling stake of Riot is WAY different than willingly taking a sponsorship that's basically a tourism ad for a city that will murder you for being gay.

— Gbay99 (@Gbay99) July 29, 2020

And G2’s founder said that the esports teams had no say in the LEC’s decision.

‘Staff and fans will Riot’

Opinion by Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco

Today’s news is shocking. We’ve seen several instances this year where the esports community has rallied together to try and get through a difficult time, whether it’s COVID-19 or allegations of widespread abuse in the industry.

So many big personalities have spoken out about today’s news, as seen in the many tweets above.

Of course things are now rocked behind the scenes in the LEC and at Riot. For me, surely they have to do a u-turn on this, otherwise it’s going to be an ongoing PR nightmare for them. Can you imagine Twitch chat during the parts of LEC broadcasts where NEOM is being promoted?

It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the staff/casters strike over this, and if so, I wouldn’t blame them.

It’s a huge shame, because for me the LEC has been one of the shining lights in esports this year, with top-notch production quality, entertaining matches and a setup that has just worked during lockdown. Now this.

Riot needs to act quickly and respond, or it may find mutiny on its hands.

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