Riot built a respectable IP and stable ESport scene, other minor ESport scenes completely dissolved (HotS) while Major Esport scenes (Dota 2) had to resort to introducing Gambling ads and Saudi Arabia sponsorships amidst steady declining viewership just to stay afloat.
Meanwhile League’s ESport is still going strong and continues breaking worldwide viewership records. Sure there was the whole NEOM debacle with the LEC but the end result was Riot walking out of the deal and thats what matters.
So Riot Games have my utmost respect for how they managed their ESport scene despite all the troubles and challenges without relying on easy but immoral investors and sponsors.
Are you forgot who sponsored TSM last year OP? And who behind Riot also?
Saudi maybe sportwashing but up to now I don’t see any big problems coming from them, at least in professional sports perspective. Newcastle improving, Riyadh first tour was a success, CR7 still a scoring machine.