MarkZ Becomes the LCS’s Commissioner 

At noon Eastern time on Tuesday, December 12th, the LCS made an announcement via a video they released announcing that fan-favorite coach turned commentator will be taking over as the head of LCS operations as MarkZ becomes the next commissioner of the league and will be tasked with bringing a new era to North American League of Legends. 

Over the years, fans have gotten to know Mark as a person with a ton of knowledge not just about the game of League of Legends but also the behind-the-scenes operations when it comes to running a league or esports organization. People in the competitive scene are excited about the news and believe Mark will be able to help reenergize a league that fans have been worried about the past couple of seasons. 

MarkZ’s History with League of Legends

Mark “MarkZ” Zimmerman, more commonly known as Mark, has been around League of Legends esports for almost a decade now after he got into the scene near the beginning. His first job after college was with Team Curse, which would become Team Liquid a year into his stint with the team. He was an analyst before stepping into a bigger coaching role later on in his tenure with the team. After his time with Team Liquid, Mark would spend a little bit of time with the Offline TV crew working on content creation and helping launch the project that has helped skyrocket the audience of a bunch of streamers. 

He would do some on-air talent work for Riot Games before immortalizing himself in North American League of Legends history when he sang the iconic song Silver Scrapes at the North American LCS Spring Split Finals in Vancouver, resulting in him making incoherent noises on stage and creating an iconic clip which fans still love to bring up. These antics are part of the reason why the fanbase has fallen in love with him. 

After getting picked up as a full-time member of the on-air team for the LCS in 2018, Mark spent the past 5 years watching and learning about the inner workings of the league and is excited and poised to take over the lead role at the LCS and hopefully help create a product more in tune with the fans expectations and desires. 

Hopes and Expectations

MarkZ, over the past couple of years, has been in a spot where he has been able to really get his finger on the pulse of the LCS fanbase, spending time working on both the LCS product itself as an analyst and caster while also doing a weekly call-in podcast called Hotline League with industry insider Travis Gafford for the past 6 years where he has been able to communicate with fans and hear their thoughts and opinions on the state of the league. 

Many are hopeful that his time in these roles will help him cater the product for the current fanbase after decisions in recent years have turned some of the most diehard fans away from the product. So far, it is looking good, as at the end of the announcement video posted by the LCS, Mark announced that the LCS would be returning to the weekends after the league tried doing matches on weeknights, to the dismay of the majority of the fanbase. Mark says there will be more announcements in 2024, and one can only hope that they help turn the tides for the LCS.