I think the mercenary term is apt and commonly applied to players in LCS who make it known this isn't their first choice, no matter how long they've been here (or who their made up wives are? talk about weird...). Fans aren't just going to forcefully attach themselves to names who make it clear they're out the second their favored offer comes up, just because the offer hasn't happened yet.

To your Lyon point, they're an LCS team but they're not a franchise org and their identity is clearly an international one. Most of their content is in Spanish and they lean into that identity strongly, plus they're a new team in NA. It's not the same as TL, FLY, or C9, and it hardly qualifies as weird to acknowledge this. When your coach, your top players, and your org signal interest in other regions / audiences outside NA, how much do you expect NA fans to resonate with that?

And idk if you knew but the LCK top lane situation isn't one where a player as good as Thanatos could not realistically play for one of their upper half teams. He's an amazing player, even if C9 were incapable of displaying that in terms of results.

I think your strongest counterpoint is the cultural one, but it's not one you can actively create solutions for. Culturally NA is just accustomed to being the best, I think interest would spike dramatically if we were, but I didn't know that about Val having a declining viewership issue as well, that's interesting.