The European League of Legends Championship Series will change to a franchise system for 2019, following in the footsteps of the NA LCS.

The idea of franchising in esports isn’t a new one with the Championship Gaming Series creating a multi-team franchise league back in 2006, but the model never truly took off as competitive gaming struggled for legitimacy.

The new changes will come into effect for the 2019 season, with 10 teams then being locked into the competition for a number of years. The players, teams and Riot themselves will enter into a revenue sharing partnership to help spread the wealth. Players will take home 35% of all profits, which will initially be their salaries but if the total share exceeds their collective salaries they will be given a bonus. Then Riot and the teams will take home 32.5% each.

While this is a big change for the EU LCS, this is not a new idea in the world of League of Legends. The North American LCS was franchised at the start of this year, following almost an identical process to what seems to be happening here.

“It is not exactly the same although it is true that of course we looked at the North American model as well as the model that was implemented in China,” says Marc Schnell, Head of EU League Management at Riot Games. “I will say that it is in structure overall very similar to what North America is doing but in the details there are a few differences. Mostly due to the fact that we are operating in different jurisdiction.”

Similar to NA, players will also get a cut of the new revenue pool. The proposed share for players is 35 percent, with the remaining 65 percent split evenly between Riot and the teams. The minimum player salary will be increased from $29,791 to $74,749 as well, according to ESPN.

Riot's plans for a players' association, similar to what was developed in North America, are still unclear. Riot also has plans for a player development system, but details have not yet been released.

After initial applications are in, select teams will move on to a second round interview with Riot Games in Berlin from July through September. The overall franchising process is scheduled to wrap up in December, similar to the timeline in NA.