Riot’s sale of LCS streaming rights to MLBAM seems inevitable after new report

Riot Games looks set to sell the streaming rights for its League of Legends Championship Series to Major League Baseball Advanced Media. 

The deal, which was originally reported on by Richard Lewis and Sports Business Daily, seems to be in the final stages of negotiations after a report from the LA Times. 

The Times’ report suggests that the deal between Riot and the MLB’s parent company is worth $200 million over the next two years. This was confirmed by two sources that the Times’ spoke with. 

If the deal goes through it is expected that MLBAM will create an app that will allow viewers  to watch the LCS, although it is unknown if this would mean the end of the LCS on Twitch. Some reports have suggested that this app would still allow people to watch for free, whereas others have suggested that there would be a subscription free that also gives subscribers in game bonuses. 

While $200 million sounds like a lot for two years of LCS streaming rights it could be a good move for the baseball league. Typically the younger audience that is watching the LCS is not watching baseball, so this would not only give MLB a chance to bring those viewers to its main league, but it would also be able to study their streaming behaviours and advertising preferences to better enhance the MLB league. 

Riot, MLB, Twitch and YouTube are yet to comment on the deal.