The Global Revenue Pool (GRP) is the financial pillar that now structures the professional League of Legends ecosystem. Introduced by Riot Games in March 2024, this revenue-sharing mechanism has profoundly transformed how teams make a living in LoL esports.
With the late-2025 announcement modernizing the model for 2026 — notably the removal of regional prize pools in the major leagues — the GRP has become the key concept for understanding the economics of modern LoL Esports.
We explains what the GRP is, where it came from, how it works, and what changes in 2026.
What the GRP Is
The GRP is a global common pool funded by sales of digital content tied to LoL Esports (skins, emotes, event bundles, etc.), which is then redistributed to professional teams in the top-tier leagues according to three criteria:
- Presence in the league
- Competitive performance
- The ability to build a community of fans
Gone are the days of guaranteed revenue with no strings attached — every variable now influences both the individual and collective share.
Why Was the GRP Created?
An esports crisis in 2023–2024
To understand the arrival of the GRP, you have to place it in the context of recent years. The esports industry was going through a difficult period, commonly known as the "esports winter," which translated into a collapse in sponsorship, teams in financial trouble, and plummeting valuations.
The franchise model Riot had launched in 2018 (LCS, LEC, LCK) relied heavily on revenue from sponsors and advertising. But that revenue eroded, and a more stable income source was needed — one that would make clubs "stakeholders" in the process.
The VCT inspiration
Riot looked to its other major esports franchise, the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), which had experimented with an innovative model: VCT Team Capsules, cosmetic bundles in each partner team's colors, whose proceeds are split 50/50 between Riot and the teams.
The result was spectacular: according to Riot's official figures, distributions to VCT partner teams exceeded 105 million dollars in 2025, of which 86 million was generated directly by sales of esports-related digital items — close to double the 2024 figures.
Riot's bet for LoL Esports: replicate that success by broadening access to digital revenue to all top-tier teams, not just those qualified for international events.
How Does the GRP Work?
The GRP is funded by revenue from LoL esports digital content (world champion team skins, emotes, Worlds and MSI bundles, etc.). This revenue is then split into three buckets, as detailed by John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games, in his official March 2024 announcement:
1. General Shares: 50%
Half of the GRP is distributed equally among all Tier 1 teams (the franchised teams of the major leagues). This base layer guarantees predictable baseline revenue, independent of competitive results or popularity.
2. Competitive Shares: 35%
More than a third of the GRP is distributed based on competitive performance, in two sub-buckets:
- A portion based on regional league standings (LEC, LCS, LCK, etc.)
- A portion based on results at international tournaments (First Stand, MSI, Worlds)
The more a team wins, the larger its share of the revenue.
3. Fandom Shares: 15%
The remaining 15% rewards teams that develop their fan community, brand, and visibility. The precise criteria have not been fully disclosed by Riot, but the idea is clear: incentivize teams to invest in their audience, their content, and their player-personalities.
Although inspired by the VCT, the LoL Esports GRP is not exactly identical. Here are the main differences:
The logic is the same: make fans themselves the funders of esports through their in-game purchases, and make themed limited editions (Worlds, Champions, championship teams) the main revenue driver.
The Removal of Regional Prize Pools
At the LoL Showcase preceding the Worlds 2025 final, Riot announced a major evolution of the model: starting with the 2026 season, the prize pools for regional splits are being removed in the leagues included in the GRP.
The measure mainly affects the three major leagues:
- LEC (Europe, Middle East & Africa)
- LCS (North America)
- LCK (Korea)
The exceptions
According to Riot's official announcement, two leagues remain — as of the announcement date — exempt from this change due to different partnership models:
- CBLOL (Brazil)
- LCP (League of Legends Championship Pacific)
The prize pools for the major international events — First Stand, MSI, and Worlds — will continue to be funded by the GRP and to reward participating teams.
Riot's justification
The publisher's argument is that the sums paid into regional prize pools had become, at the individual player level, comparatively small, while total investment in the leagues had, by contrast, risen sharply. By redirecting these funds toward the GRP and other strategic priorities, Riot believes it can generate a deeper long-term impact on the ecosystem — without, however, specifying a way to measure it.
Is the GRP Already Working? The First Signals
A few months after the model was put in place, the early indicators are fairly positive. Inven Global reports that the introduction of the GRP roughly doubled to tripled payments to Korean teams compared with the previous model. This dynamic was one of the factors that pushed Riot Games Korea to merge with its subsidiary LCK LLC in late 2025, judging the legal separation between the publisher and the league less relevant in the new framework.
