Franchise spots for Season 4 of the MPL - ID or the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League Indonesia were sold at 1 million USD with 8 organizations buying into it. The new season looks to standardize and promote stability in the system with the organizers opting for a structured approach, much like League of Legends.
If anyone had any doubts whether mobile esports are here to stay, this announcement should squash any of those concerns. Furthermore, MLBB is investing an additional 8 million USD to grow the scene in Indonesia. Part of the investment will be used to further develop the esport scene outside of MPL. Logan Shaw, Regional Esports Director of MLBB said, "In spite of being on a professional competition, we need to build a successful esports ecosystem, starting from the grassroots level."
MOONTON, who are the developers of the title will be holding a series of tournaments for amateur and semi-professional teams as well as support campus and third party tournaments to help grow the community and sustain the player base in Indonesia. Earlier seasons had regular circuits for different regions such as MPL - ID, MPL - Singapore/Malaysia and MPL - Philippines. This season the focus will be on MPL - ID, with the 8 big teams playing in it.
The 8 teams who will be playing are as follows:
Alter Ego
Bigetron Esports
Rex Regum Qeon
Genflix Aerowolf
Geek Fam
Onic Esports
Evos
Aura
"With MPL - ID Season 4 transitioning to a franchised league model, it allows the league to tackle many issues that was faced in previous seasons. For instance, the lack of regulation and governance causes a lack of standardize contracts between the teams and players. By having permanent teams, it allows the league to implement a standardize system that protects all parties involved. This will make it easier for us to create something with a solid foundation with a long-term goal of sustainability in the esports landscape of Indonesia," said Dylan Chia, Marketing Director of MPL- ID.
In its 4th season, the franchise model will introduce the following features to the league:
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Hard salary caps for each team to promote team parity and operational cost sustainability
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Shared revenue where each team can get more than 50 per cent of the league revenue pool before deduction of Moonton’s operational and marketing costs
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Player contracts with a fixed minimum salary and minimum contract length of six months per season
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No relegation for teams
The league will run for 8 weeks from the 23rd of August to the 13th of October. These matches will be held offline at the XO hall Tanjung Duren while the Grand Final will be held in the Tennis Indoor Senayan, Jakarta on October 26th and 27th. The league stage will be played on 3 days each week - Friday, Saturday and Sunday and feature bo3 matches. The top 6 teams will move onto the playoffs.
The playoffs will be a double elimination bracket with the top 2 teams starting one round ahead of the other 4.