Riot Games is gearing up for the 2014-2015 season of the League of Legends North American Collegiate Championship – and they’ve announced a few changes from the previous year’s competition.
Last year’s championship included a total of 540 teams, coming from more than 300 schools across North America. This has prompted Riot to restructure the championship to handle its large scope, dividing it into four continental regions (North, South, East, and West). The season will also now span the entire 2014-2015 academic year.
Riot announced that four “community partners” will be sponsoring this year’s NACC qualifying events: Ivy League of Legends (IvyLoL), Collegiate StarLeague (CSL), TeSPA, and Well Played Productions. Each sponsor will run league-format qualifiers, awarding one playoff spot per region, for a total of 16 spots; these 16 will in turn compete for regional titles. Once the final four have been decided, they will battle it out before a live audience in Los Angeles in April or May of 2015.
Finalists will compete before a live audience, like the event pictured here.
In addition to the bragging rights that come with placing in the NACC, this year’s teams are competing for scholarships; each member of the first place team will take home $30,000 in scholarship money, second place team members get $15,000 each, and third and fourth place team members will be awarded $7,500 each. Riot will be finding ways to cover other expenses for winners who have full-ride scholarships or have already paid their tuition.
Registration is currently open for IvyLoL and CSL until October 16, with TeSPA registration running from January 15 until February 13, and Well Played will be taking signups from February 23 until March 5.
With Riot taking steps to curb player toxicity, the competition will be fierce but clean, emphasizing good sportsmanship among competitors.
Details for NACC events are available at the NACC FAQ page.
