Cover-Credits:
League of Legends coaches in the LCS (League of Legends Championship Series) have come together to launch the Esports Coaches Guild to help advocate for the many coaches in the game. Immortals coach Gabriel “Invert” Zoltan-Johan decided to start the non-profit trade association to provide legal resources and training opportunities and advocate for LCS and North American Collegiate League (NACL) coaches.
How will the Esports Coaches Guild work?
According to Zoltan-Johan, membership for the association is open to all coaches, not just professional ones. “Whether you’re in high school, collegiate, the NACL or the LCS, you’re welcome and encouraged to participate,” said the former FlyQuest coach. The Esports Coaches Guild offers three tiers of annual memberships, namely a $300, $400 and $500 tier. Members get access to a number of courses offered by the EGC including EPA courses, legal workshops, conferences, summits, contract reviews, access to salary transparency, online and offline events, Discord and more. Each tier is geared towards a different level of experience. The $300 tier is intended for coaches who are just starting out and the higher tiers feature more intermediate courses and involvement. Here is the announcement video released by the ECG featuring Zoltan-Johan:
Zoltan-Johan told the Jacob Wolf Report, “Having an equivalent [to the Players Association] for coaches and competitive staff, I find to be pretty important because the job itself has comparatively low job security, coaches don't often have many rights, and often a lot of coaches are not represented by any sort of legal team or agent just because of potential conflict of interests that occur.” He expects 70 to 75 coaches in the LCS and NACL to join the ECG. The organisation is currently in talks with Riot Games to make the ECG the advocacy body for NACL and LCS coaches with respect to rules, policies and compliances for those leagues.
