The North American LCS will soon be broadcast on ESPN+

Starting with the upcoming, 2018 Summer Split the League of Legends NA LCS will begin broadcasting on ESPN’s new streaming service called, ESPN+, Riot and ESPN announced on Friday morning.

According to ESPN’s announcement, this will not affect the streaming of games that fans currently enjoy on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, but will be provided as an additional way for fans to engage with League of Legends, as well as an additional avenue of support toward traditional sports fans.

“Serving the fan experience has always been of highest priority, so we are excited that League of Legends esports will be broadcast alongside ESPN’s world-class sports programming,” Riot Games communication lead, Chris Tom told the Rift Herald.

ESPN+ is the company’s new subscription based streaming service which offers certain live sports broadcasts as well as scripted entertainment around the world of sports. The partnership between ESPN and Riot was founded in large part thanks to Riot’s broadcast partnership with MLB Advanced Media that was announced back in 2016. ESPN’s parent company, Disney, recently purchased MLBAM paving the way for this partnership to occur.

The NA LCS will begin play on June 16, when the Summer Split begins with a rematch of the Finals between 100 Thieves and Team Liquid.