MrBeast reportedly interested in entering LoL esports with NACL team

YouTube star Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson has reportedly expressed an interest in entering the North American Challengers League (NACL), his first foray into League of Legends esports.

According to The Game Haus’ Sander Hove, who has partnered with Nick ‘LS’ De Cesare to deliver updates on the North American League of Legends scene, MrBeast is among the content creators who are “apparently expressed interested in joining the NACL”.

Popular League of Legends streamer Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp and Moist Esports, owned by Charles ‘MoistCr1TiKaL’ White Jr. and Ludwig Ahgren, are also believed to be interested in entering the league.

Tyler1 was reportedly denied the opportunity to join the NACL but has not given up on fielding a team in the league, according to Hove.

The NACL is the second tier of North American League of Legends, only below the LCS. It is currently going through a major shift after seven of the ten LCS franchises decided to withdraw from the NACL overnight following the removal of the mandate that they had to compete in the developmental league.

Riot Games reduced the NACL from 16 to ten teams for the Summer Split and invited Disguised, content creator Jeremy ‘Disguised Toast’ Wang’s esports project. The team is currently joint-second in the league with an 11-7 record and is averaging a league-high 10,951 viewers per game, according to data firm Esports Charts.

MrBeast interested in entering NACL

MrBeast has long been credited with an interest in entering League of Legends esports, but never before at the NACL level.

In a guest appearance on the Worlds 2022 broadcast, he revealed his intention to buy a slot in the LCS.

“Oh, yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “The question is when. When we do it, I want to have a team that makes it to a stage like this.”

Earlier this year, 100 Thieves star Yiliang ‘Doublelift’ Peng, one of the most famous League of Legends players in North America, said that MrBeast entering the LCS would be “really good” for the league, which is grappling with declining viewership.

When TSM announced that they are selling their LCS slot, many looked at MrBeast as a potential buyer. However, according to a May 20 report from The New York Times, TSM have narrowed down discussions “to about a dozen entities, mostly in the media and traditional sports worlds.”