The Need for Silence and League of Legends’ Complicated Relationship with Verbal Agreements

The Need for Silence and League of Legends’ Complicated Relationship with Verbal Agreements

Time Stamp: November 21, 2023 8:57 PM

If you blinked, you would have missed League of Legends free agency beginning. Part of it is because free agency realistically shouldn’t have started yet. Due to contract restrictions, most players realistically cannot formally sign until their contracts expire – this year’s date being November 19, 2023.

In lieu, the Western population has begun to utilize a tool known as “verbal agreements” – or basically, promises that a player and an organization will officially complete the paperwork when able to do so. For players, it gives them comfort that they will have a job in the following split. For organizations, it allows them to get the most stressful part of their jobs out of the way early, allowing for trips to Korea and holiday schedules to be quickly planned.

It is fitting that most of the action takes place in November in North America as the free agency process is akin to ‘Black Friday’ shopping. Everyone is scrambling out of the fear of loss under the precedent of better pricing and future availability. Only sometimes as people step away and reflect does the reality settle in that you could have waited a week for the same television.

In recent weeks, as both parties utilize verbal agreements, journalists and leakers alike have taken to social media to report on the agreements. While acting as an important accountability check, it does create some additional problems.

Because nothing is official, every single bit of public information matters. Verbal agreements provide a private sense of security – not formal confirmation. A realistic situation could take place where a player previously verbally agrees to join an organization and proceeds to back out following news of a different opening. Another very realistic situation is an organization backing out of a verbal agreement with one player, in lieu of signing another player. Organizations and players as a result instead feel incentivized to make quick decisions. Because again, nothing is certain.  

Well, kind of.

Players could theoretically be incentivized to not agree to verbal agreements and wait for official contracts. Again, one of the biggest fears when it comes to players is the idea of not having a job in the following split. For top talent, this fear is minimal. For players who may be looking to get a spot on a professional lineup for the first time in their respective careers, the horror is akin to that of watching The Exorcist for the first time. This panic is what makes free agency a beautiful disaster, an entertaining sh**show.  

If players were to wait, they would potentially be able to repeat the benefits of becoming the “new top prize.” Or organizations could strategically prey on this panic – being able to capitalize on the stress to secure perceived second or third-best available players. But it doesn’t excuse the bigger issue surrounding the predatory nature of verbal agreements.

Riot does have the ability to step in by better managing the free agency window. In North America, FlyQuest and Immortals’ seasons ended in July yet the international window brings the season to a complete close in November, three months of dead space. On the contrary, NRG saw their season end on November 2 against Weibo Gaming. They have only a few weeks to prepare for the offseason – if they haven’t already. And this is with the notion that the next competitive League of Legends season will begin sometime in late January.

For comparison, the NBA championship completes in the early weeks of June, free agency begins in the first week of July and pre-season basketball will begin in mid-October. The NBA has also utilized verbal agreements, however with commitment dates being closer to the official start of the free agency window rather than weeks prior.

And then there is the under-discussed potential of tampering – if an organization were not willing to give a player the ability to speak with other teams prior to their contract expiring. And the reality is that party members in esports haven’t been willing to abide by contractual agreements in the first place.

Quietly, Riot hasn’t done much surrounding the conversation of free agency. It has been one of the things where they allow organizations and players to self-police. And to everyone’s credit, there is an immense amount of self-policing – whether it be organizations speaking up or a prospective staff a player fact-checking reporters. It still does not mean that the practice in itself is necessarily right.

Verbal agreements being promoted by agents, secondary staff members, Jack Etienne meme tweets set a standard for the practice to continue while frustrating almost all involved. A journalist will feel misled when reporting on information that may be subject to change despite the agreement. Players and organizations can feel trapped to the news while also not necessarily having anything to show for it.

The Players Association has not commented on this aspect but does have the ability to request change. A potential solution could be the recognition of “Letters of Intent” — a middle ground between verbal and contractual agreement. While it would not mean that the deal is done, a LOI could represent a commitment and set parameters that organizations and players would have to follow if said commitment was broken.

A big swing from Riot to add protection to the free agency window could save the day in more ways than one yet likely will never happen. Or agents could hold themselves accountable to protect their clients. It is what makes these types of events so frustrating to watch, understanding just how much is predicated on loose agreements and bad business decisions. We are already witnessing the damage as players and organizations scramble following rumors surrounding a potential reduction in LCS team slots from 10 to 8.

Or, everyone could remain quiet, as is far too often the occurrence.

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