On August 10 2010 01:55 night terrors wrote: Why is everyone focused on who is disbanding rather than on who's making a new team. You do raelize how insane that is? SC2 my ass..
Because it's easier speculating what team is getting axed instead what random company is gonna make a team.
For all we know, hite might disband, and then a new company will come up, swoop those left from Sparkyz/some other Free Agents, and make a brand new team.
Yeah yeah, im aware that the former allows us to guess and get involved but with all the hype about SC2 taking over, BW being dead, etc, etc. but the latter means we have a company interested in making a new team. In addition to this, the teams likely to disband are not doing so (seems to me) because of SC2 but because of the betting scandal.
On August 10 2010 02:12 Fionn wrote: I don't see BW being dead in Korea.
I mean, this year's Finals had 30,000 people in scorching heat. Which was way more than last year.
Yes, but according to FOMOS, 30,000 is the second worst showing in history.
Which brings up the question...what is the final's TV ratings?
Heaven knows what company would be interested in taking over a starcraft team. It's too difficult to guess as the 12 sponsors cover a wide spectrum of businesses. The chance that Korean Air would sponsor one is small, so don't get hyped over it.
KT - No, they have Flash. Also they just won the title. They have a huge fanbase. Again, just won title for first time, have the best player in the game, and are run by a big company who is big into esports.
SKT1 - Again, no. They have Bisu. They have a huge fanbase. They spend more money than any other team, so I see no reason why they would randomly fold. No way.
CJ - No. Big company. Big support group. Always good. Have marketable players even if Savior screwed up
Hwaseung OZ - No. They might be a small team, but they have Jaedong. He's the first/second best player on the planet, so he's marketable. Without him, I might think they could fold, but there is 0 chance with Jaedong on board.
STX Soul - Eh, I don't think so. They still have a decent amount of good players: Calm, Hero, Kal, and they still have July/Tossgirl for the marketable standpoint. Hwasin got caught, and he was loved by the teen girls, but I don't think that's a reason for them to quit.
MBC Hero - They just had a pop star have a reality show about him learning Starcraft with their team. Also owned by a gaming channel. They have money. They love their team. No way they dump them.
Stars - I don't think so. They have Zero, Free, and Kwanro. From what I've seen, they have a big fanbase and have lots of fans show up to their fan meetings, etc. They aren't going to be bad next year, and they could make the playoffs, etc.
Samsung KHAN - lolno. They're the second/third most historic franchise behind SKT1/KT. Stork is still one of the most loved players, and I'm sure he's marketable for the company.
WeMade Fox - Eh, they could, but they just made the playoffs. They have Baby and other players that are becoming really good. They also have Nada, etc. It could be them, but it would be a shock.
Airforce ACE - No. They are already recruiting for next season with FBH, etc, so I'm pretty damn sure they're not the team folding.
Estro - One of the two teams I can see folding. They really don't have any marketable person; they aren't a huge team; they really don't look like they'll be able to compete next season. Those three things make me think that they could get dumped.
hite SPARKYZ - The lead team, obviously. Three of their best players got kicked out forever. Their most marketable player, and captain, filed for FA in Leta. After those four, they basically have NOTHING. If Leta left, they would be worse than Airforce ACE next season. Even with Leta, they'll suck. Also, with OGN/CJ in cahoots, they aren't as important as they once were to OGN.
its not about the performance, its about the companies behind the teams
I'd think that KT and SKT are not possible here, due to levels of achievement + hugeness (and industry) of sponsor. ACE has talked about disbanding before, but obviously wouldn't be in the discussion.
Most likely:
hite would be the clear #1 choice to sell/disband/rebrand, based on performance (disappointing) and losing 2/3 of their team to the scandal. However, they're owned by OGN, making this marginally less likely.
Estro is the next candidate: they've done terribly most of the time, have no real starleague threats, and lost UpMagic (and probably SangHo). On the other hand, they've got great uniforms, and their sponsor is invested in the industry.
Somewhat likely:
STX SouL: They're coming off their best season to date in recent play, with Kal and Calm repeatedly going deep(ish) in Starleagues, so performance-wise there's little to complain about, except that a team this old doesn't have gold yet. On the other hand, STX has nothing to do with the gaming industry, so that makes them a prime candidate for a rebranding.
Woongjin Stars: Another good team that's disappointing in actual accomplishments, with a sponsor not intimately involved in the market. free and ZerO have of course both been good, and Kwanro ditto, but their inability to actually win as a team makes them a candidate to trade sponsors... again.
Possibly in the mix:
CJ I think might be in the discussion... which is silly, kind of, as they've had a nice run and sport a shiny new Starleague winner now. But with the coach leaving, and some shadow still hanging over the team from sAviOr's departure, it's possible.
Samsung KHAN is coming off a bad season, and at this point their only legitimate threat is Stork. January seemed to have lost her touch the beginning of the season, but then they did get really close to making playoffs anyway.
Almost certainly not:
MBCGame HERO. They've been much worse than this before, they've been really active in Korean pop culture scene, they made playoffs, Light and Sea are playing well, the magic coach has got them doing great.
WeMade Fox. They're coming off a great season; They have a roster of starleague-caliber players; they haven't been this good in years; Nada. I don't see them going anywhere.
Wild Card:
Hwaseung OZ. It's unclear to me exactly how the sponsor is involved with the industry; they have one of the best players, but other than that pretty much nothing; the team didn't make playoffs. Could be anything.
On August 09 2010 19:28 motbob wrote: Well, Hite is OGN. It wouldn't make any sense for OGN to want to sell.
Didn't OGN sell SPARKYZ to Hite? So OGN no longer in control, and Hite is likely feeling buyers remorse, considering Hite went from decent ( 4th Place) —> last place + half the team matchfixing.
hite only has 6 left players who have even won a televised game:
Britney P 1986 pts - HoGiL Z 2037 pts 2102 pts Horang2 ] P 2139 pts 2153 pts Leta () T 2213 pts 2263 pts PuMa T 2025 pts 2069 pts SeCret P 1960 pts - Tazza P 1910 pts -
And only Leta and Horang2 have winning records.
No trading opportunity (expect Leta lol) And considering Leta is now a Free Agent there is no reason for him to stay.
Obviously Hite is partly to blame for insisting their players drink Hite Beer before every match (and before every phone call to sAviOr ) but really, they need to sell.
I don't think the team will disband - the wording of the article is eerily similar to news around the time of Pantech EX -> WeMade Fox. It'll be interesting to see who the new sponsor is.
On August 10 2010 05:44 yeti wrote: Didn't OGN sell SPARKYZ to Hite? So OGN no longer in control, and Hite is likely feeling buyers remorse, considering Hite went from decent
Hite only has naming rights iirc, they don't own the team.
On August 09 2010 19:39 mmdmmd wrote: This is a great chance for Blizzard to show that they really want to help out Esport!!
Buy that team and change it to a bw/sc2 team!
But I totally predict that Blizz ain't gonna do shit. The truth is: They DON'T CARE!!!
Starcraft Esport RIP 2000 - 2010 Cause of death: Activition Blizzard (aka Money)
Edit: Added a photo of the team, might be a place holder, might be the real thing like Savior incident. You decide
Mod Edit: The caption in the article explicitly states that the silhouette has nothing to do with what team it is
The fuck? SC isn't going anywhere soon. Wouldn't make sense, they still have pros, a sizable audience, a ton of established leagues, airtime, and most of all income. Why would any company currently broadcasting or owning or profiting in any way from Sc1 want to switch over to Sc2 where there are no established leagues or any guarantee of a good income? Same with pros. Why would they switch over to a game that hasn't even had its first television broadcast yet when they could play BW, which is extremely well established
On August 09 2010 20:54 Tazza wrote: Definitely hite since they have 6 players now. Besides, a beer company in esports? It was kinda wierd in the first place
Yeah, I can't see this being any other team. Didn't Hite release their entire B roster? The match-fixing scandal definitely hit this team the hardest.
EPT
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