The NLC is one of the regional leagues of the European scene of League of Legends. Representing the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries, it was the most watched tier 2 league in 2025 thanks to Los Ratones competing in it. Casters and other involved parties have come forward to denounce the NLC failing to pay them among other forms of mismanagement.
To summarize the allegations against the Nordic league:
It’s worth noting that Troubleinc and Hiprain were the only two casters of the NLC for the Winter 2026 split, which is still ongoing.
The NLC has faced long-standing issues. In 2025, production regularly experienced long delays of up to an hour, despite the tournament being online. In 2026, the league started operating with a much smaller crew, and issues multiplied. The week 5 match between DMG Esports and Ruddy Corporation was even postponed by four days due to technical issues.
The NLC also went from eight casters in 2025 to two in 2026. Now that they have fired them both, the community is left wondering about the future of the league.
Los Ratones boosted the NLC’s viewership in 2025. Image Source: Riot Games
In 2025, the NLC drew a healthy number of viewers thanks to Los Ratones playing in it. However, while Caedrel’s team regularly crossed the 100,000 viewers, every other roster was ecstatic if they got a tenth of that.
Now, Forsen has also built his own streamers’ team. The league is learning, though, that they cannot so easily replicate the LR formula. Forsen’s team manages 20k to 30k viewers at most, with the others collecting crumbs. With Los Ratones gone, the NLC no longer has its golden goose to hide its mismanagement behind.
On the next day, NLC officials gave a response to the situation. In short, they accept parts of the criticism and reject others. In 2025, they wanted to bank on the interest generated by Los Ratones and held events in large arenas, built expo areas, and flew in creators and influencers for the show. However, this didn’t return enough money compared to the costs, and the NLC took too long to secure the required additional funding.
NLC officials say that this delay is the reason behind the late payments. They state that they have settled all original invoices, though they “declined certain late fees”.
Author’s note: Although neither party has brought evidence that the original invoices were or weren’t settled, European laws mandate that late fees must be paid and aren’t something that an organisation can “decline”.
Finally, the tournament organisers plan to bring the league back to a more traditional broadcast approach, and ensure that everyone involved in this project loves League of Legends.
Former NLC talent as well as LEC casters addressed the response from the NLC. Their remarks:
Featured Image Source: NLC
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