Finnish League of Legends Esports Governance

This research explored how Finnish League of Legends community is governed by the Finnish Esports Federation. The objective of the research was to find a clear understanding on how the governing organization currently supports the development of amateur level of play and what could be done in the future. The research question discussed in this research was how the Finnish Esports Federation can help amateur and grassroots levels of Finnish League of Legends to develop. Traditional sports and esports governance were compared with each other. The main differences being that esports game developer holds more power through intellectual property rights, while in traditional sports, teams and tournaments are usually local, making governing them more straightforward. Esports governance organizations from Korea and Finland were examined and later compared. The research data was collected through a group interview and analyzed with Finnish Esports Federation’s values, mission, and vision using qualitative data analysis. The results indicated that the community does not trust the federation to develop the esports activities. As an esports game developer holds the rights to their developed product, making structural changes to an esports title requires active communication and co-operation with the governance organization, community, and the license holder. As a suggestion the Finnish Esports Federation should improve these aspects