- Rally Cry will host the North American Challengers League
- The NACL replaces both NA’s Academy and Proving Grounds tournament structure
- Rally Cry also gets broadcasting rights for the tournament
Riot Games needed a reputable host and distributor for their new North American Challengers League (NACL) and found it in Rally Cry.
Rally Cry Will Host The NACL
Large video gaming companies often contract third parties to organize their tournaments, and Riot Games is no exception to that. The League of Legends developer recently entered a partnership with tournament operator Rally Cry who will host the upcoming North American Challenge League (NACL). The operator will additionally be responsible for hosting broadcasts of all development League of Legends competitions until 2024, as well as offer platform support.
The partnership with Rally Cry comes just in time to host North America’s newest League of Legends developmental league. The NACL, or North American Challengers League, replaces both the LCS Academy and Proving Grounds’ structure at the start of the year, with the competition starting already on January 21.
The new league will see a total of 16 teams compete in a league-style tournament. Ten of these teams will be the so-called Fixed Teams, composed of the ten former “Academy” teams. The rest of the 16 rosters will be made up of Provisional teams (formerly “Amateur” teams). All of them will compete in two seasonal splits (Spring and Summer) that culminate in double-elimination playoffs.
These Provisional rosters come from the following organizations: AOE Esports, Wildcard Gaming, Team Liquid First, FlyQuest FAM, CLG Faith, and Cincinnati Fear. Following each of the two splits, the bottom four provisional teams will face off against the top four open NACL Qualifiers to determine whether or not they will remain in the league.
More About Rally Cry
Rally Cry has indeed scored a big deal with Riot Games, considering the company would not only support the new league but also gain the rights to monetize and distribute the competition. Both the NACL itself and its qualifiers will be broadcast by Rally Cry similarly to the main competition.
Riot Games likely chose Rally Cry as the broadcaster has already worked with the gaming studio before and has experience hosting lower-level competitions. Rally Cry operated the 2022-2023 College VALORANT season and it currently powers the Air Force Gaming League, NFL Youth Gaming League, and LevelNext.
“Rally Cry is dedicated to creating esports opportunities for players of all ages and skill levels,” said Rally Cry CEO Adam Rosen. “This partnership allows us to make a lasting impact on players aspiring to compete at the next level in their esports careers. In addition, we look forward to showcasing the up-and-coming on-air talent within North America.”
