Franchising

What does it mean? idk, please explain simply

10 teams in 3 regions are officially partnered with riot and complete in matches

10 teams are locked into contracts with riot to play in one of 3 regional circuits, the Americas (NA, SA), EMEA (EU, CIS, MENA), and APAC (SEA, CN, SA, JP, KR). Similar to League of Legends, each league plays 2 splits, with masters tournaments after each of them with the exception of the 2023 season, where there's a kick-off tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil followed by 1 split, a masters tournament, then LCQs, then finally champions. Other than the international leagues, there are also regional challengers series, which are essentially the T2 scene. The top teams of the challengers series then play in a regional ascension tournament, where the top team is promoted to the international league for 2 years, with roster protections as well as all the benefits of being a partnered team. It is important to note that riot hold almost all the power in this system, orgs don't pay to play in the league, rather riot pays the teams to play, so orgs have to play by their rules to stay in.