ESPN has been the source for a lot of rumours regarding the European League of Legends Championships Series, which is soon to be franchising, and now in another report we hear that alleged sources have said Giants Gaming, Unicorns of Love, and Roccat won't be taking part in the new league, meaning there are spaces for five new teams.
Applications for Giant Gaming and Unicorns of Love were declined, although Roccat's future isn't decided, and the sources claim it's unlikely these three organisations will partner with new ones. According to ESPN, they join Splyce and H2K Gaming as the five teams removed from the competition, all of which should allegedly receive an exit payment from a $2.87 million USD pool paid by new teams.
That's not all though, as ESPN also reports that Danish organisation Astralis has been accepted as a franchise partner for the EU LCS, with Martin 'Deficio' Lynge headlining the application, which may mean he has to leave his post as commentator to work with Astralis. The report adds that Astralis will pay Riot 10.5 million euros over a multi-year period in order to join.
Is Astralis a good fit for the league?