LTA Commissioner MarkZ on Brazil and the LTA: "We don't expect it to all to be 'kumbaya, best friends,' right away."

League of Legends

16 Jan

Martin Arévalo-Östberg

"We're excited to see the intensity and the passion of the Brazilian community come out and defend their home ground."

The start of the new year will bring big changes to professional League of Legends in the Americas. The start of the LTA, which will see its inaugural season take off on January 25th, will revolutionize the Tier-1 and Tier-2 scenes for both North America, as well as South America. Now, one of the countries with one of the most passionate fanbases on the planet will be forced to adapt: Brazil.

With the conclusion of its final season in 2024, the CBLOL wrapped to a close after 12 years of service to its loyal fans. Now, these same fans will have to look to the LTA for a new place to call home.

To discuss the transition, Strafe Esports had the chance to sit down with Mark Zimmerman (MarkZ), commissioner for the LTA, for an exclusive interview in which he was able to talk about the challenges and expectations for the new league. Perhaps most importantly, MarkZ spoke of the future for Brazil in the LTA and beyond, addressing the concerns of fans of the region, as well as holding the first cross-conference LTA event in Sao Paulo.

The CBLOL is merging with the LLA and LCS to make the new LTA league

League of Legends isn't just another esport in Brazil, and the LTA represents a brand new chapter. (Credit: CBLOL)

The following interview has been edited slightly for clarity and length.

[Strafe] When the LTA was first announced, there was a lot of displeasure and discourse around the merger. There were fears of their leagues and teams losing identities. Since then, it looks as if sentiments have simmered down or even changed to a degree. What would you attribute this change to?

"Well, we would love to take all the credit and say it's all us, we've done such an amazing job of turning people's opinion around. But I don't think that's necessarily completely the case. I do think we're doing our best to communicate with fans, show that we're still doing everything we can to make sure that they're excited, that the formats are going to be cool, the competition is going to be cool, the broadcast is going to be cool.

All these things that they've kind of grown to know and love within each specific region, whether it's Brazil, LATAM, or North America. Despite the changes, it's still going to be a really great time. And so as you put out content, communication, explain these things, I think people naturally warm up to it.

I think it's also very understandable that it does just take time. And I think that's part of it, too. We do everything we can, but some part of it is just... There's going to be the initial shock of hearing the news, because we're not shying away from the fact that these are big changes. We felt like they were necessary.

We've done everything we can to explain why we felt like we had to make these changes, so that people understand it's not just this random decision that's been made. Because, like you said, there is a concern of losing their identity, and the culture, and their teams, and the things that make them fans. And we want to preserve that. So there's the initial kind of shock of the news, kind of the concern, the worry that comes up.

And then hopefully over time, as we explain things, as we communicate, as we start the product actually starting up - because we still haven't technically even started, in a sense - so we hope that as we start to deliver more and more, that the worries fade away and it just returns back to excitement and hype for the product."

[Strafe] Could you maybe on that note talk to me a little bit about the challenges that you first faced running into these sentiments initially?

"Yeah, I think there's two kinds of challenges we face, and we're always going to try and learn from them and do better.

One is myself and everyone who was previously on the North American, the LCS side, and then the CBLOL side, we're having to come together and really start working together and figuring out how the teams operate, where the similarities are, where the differences are, kind of behind the scenes and internally, how to work together and make sure we're not making mistakes, or oversights, or anything like that. So that's part of it, is just figuring out how to work with each other.

And then the other one is understanding where there are differences, how to make those differences work without, if someone is seeing the two different communities and how we're talking to them, that there's good intention behind it. I appear on podcasts all the time for the North. I used to be talent, I used to be all these things so that I'm very happy to hop on a camera, hop on a call and do these sorts of things.

And so we're trying to, if you saw in the announcement video, we have Igor Corrêa in the South, who is going to start showing up a little bit more on camera and take a little bit of that role sometimes while talking to the Brazilian community, because we want people to understand that there are Brazilian leaders making decisions with us, with me, and it's not just me.

So we're trying to make sure that all the communities feel represented and heard, and they understand that the two teams are working together. I think that's a big one, is just figuring out, for me personally, what can I say to the Brazilian community when I show up to make them understand that I am not just North American MarkZ that I had been previously, but I understand that there's a new scope and communities that I have to learn to reach. So there's a personal learning on my side, too, of how to communicate with them."

[Strafe] It's been announced recently that the first LTA cross-conference event is going to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm wondering if you can talk me through the thought process behind the decision to have Brazil host for the first time?

"The biggest one was just that we wanted to have that event down there because it's going to be the first opportunity for this cross-conference in a moment. We thought that there would be a crowd that would be very, very excited.

We haven't seen this level of competition before, and I think we want to lean into the rivalry aspect in the beginning. We don't expect it to all be 'kumbaya, best friends,' right away. And we're not going to tell fans that that's how they should feel immediately.

And so, we're excited to see the intensity and the passion of the Brazilian community come out and defend their home ground, in a sense, against the North teams as they go in there and they fight for that single spot to attend the First Stand. So, we think that will lead to some really fun moments, a lot of passion, and we want to capitalize on that as much as we can."

[Strafe] Absolutely. Brazilian fans are nothing if not passionate.

"Yeah, so we're expecting a lot of fans to show up that day."

[Strafe] First Stand for next year, 2026, will actually be taking place in Brazil too. Is further integration of Brazil, or South America in general, into the global ecosystem for League part of the objective of the LTA?

"It's obviously partially for the LTA, but also, I think, for the global team and why they're looking at Brazil. It's just a community that they've had their eye on for a while and trying to figure out how to get an event in Brazil. And so, I think this is a great opportunity that they saw to put an event for the global scale in Brazil.

And the LTA, you know, we're going to support it the way that we support all global events on the regional level. All regional teams always lean in. But it wasn't like this was a specific LTA initiative. But I do think we want the Brazilian community to know that, like, Riot Games does want to continue hosting events down there. You know, they're an incredible community. And this was a good opportunity to put an event down there."

MarkZ worked tirelessly to better the LCS. Now, he will do so again for the LTA. (Credit: Marv Watson/Riot Games)

MarkZ assumed the role of commissioner for the LCS in 2023 after several years as a part of the LCS talent team. Having played a key role in the growth of the league, MarkZ is now taking on the title of commissioner for the entirety of the LTA. With great power, however, comes great responsibility.

"[Figuring out]... what can I say to the Brazilian community when I show up to make them understand that I am not just North American MarkZ...[anymore]"

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Image source: CBLOL