The esports league is run by Riot Games and has sixteen teams split into two conferences, North and South.

However, in 2011, professional organized league play became a prominent point of emphasis for Riot after the company hosted its inaugural championship tournament at DreamHack in Sweden.

[6] At the end of 2013, Riot announced the League of Legends Challenger Series (CS), which allowed teams to be able to participate in the LCS via a promotion and relegation system.

[7] In June 2017, Riot Games announced that the NA LCS would shift to a franchised league with ten permanent teams beginning in 2018.

In 2015, CBLOL adopted a standard two-split format and a second-tier tournament known as the Circuit Desafiante (lit.

[13][14] In 2020, Riot Games Brasil announced that the league would expand to ten teams from its original eight and adopt a franchise format like the LCS in North America for 2021.

In May 2018, Riot announced plans to merge both the LLN and CLS into a single league, known as the Liga Latinoamérica (LLA), starting in 2019.

On June 11, 2024, Riot Games announced in a blog post titled "LoL Esports: Building Towards A Brighter Future" that the LCS, CBLOL and LLA would plan to merge into a Pan-American league that would begin play in 2025.

[19] 100 Thieves, initially planned to be a regular partnered team, also announced on October 31 that they sold their slot back to Riot Games.

As such, they would be a "provisional guest team", which means they'll not be eligible for relegation but may leave competitive League at the end of the 2025 split.

The Americas Regional Championship, as the third split playoffs are known, sees the three remaining teams from each of the two conferences compete in a double elimination bracket consisting entirely of best-of-fives.

The winners of the grand final in each conference's promotion tournament qualify for the LTA as the guest teams for next season.

The LTA primarily connects with its audience through online streaming via dedicated channels on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube.