LoL roster aim to raise $20M franchise fee through crowd funding campaign

With the LCK looking to franchise moving into 2021, start-up company Gamer Republic is looking to apply for the league by crowdfunding the entry costs.

What’s more, the company is boldly asking for a total of $20,000,000 to fund the operating costs of the team for the first two years. As a reward for the funding, backers would be given unprecedented powers over the team in the form of control over players, pick and ban, backroom staff, and more - in other words, Gamer Republic are crowdfunding a pseudo-management team as well.

The success or failure of a backer’s team management decisions would impact their “operation score”, which would affect how much weight later decisions that backer made would be given. Prize money the team earn would also be split up among backers, with higher tier supporters receiving a greater percentage of winnings.

The rewards offered at each tier. (Picture: Gamer Republic)

Other rewards and perks include discounted team merchandise and playing with the team’s pros.

Gamer Republic’s justification for the outlandish management system is a desire to create a “team that wins with data analysis and systems,” citing other games and sports like baseball where statistical analysis and data interpretation hold huge sway over team decisions. In “E-sports like LOL [it] is easier to collect quantified data than [in] physical sports such as baseball, soccer, and basketball,” they argue.

• Read more: Fnatic suffer huge loss against G2 in LEC’s match of the week

If Gamer Republic succeeds with their ambitious Kickstarter project, it would make them the ninth highest-funded project ever through the crowdfunding website.

Even if they do, there are still the hurdles of being vetted by Riot and the LCK, creating a team, and then looking to compete in one of the most infamously strong League of Legends circuits in the world. Three-time world-champions T1, two-time champions Gen G, and Dragon X all call the LCK home. It is a bold company that wishes to step into the LCK and then fan-run the management.