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HonestTea
5007 Posts
Hwaseung, a Korean sportswear and equipment company, has signed a deal with Plus team, to create a full-fledged sponsered team. Hwaseung is the owner of several brands, including Lecaf and the Korean rights to K-Swiss.
Plus will now probably take the name of Lecaf.
The deal includes yearly salaries for the coach and players, a sizable apartment (364 square meters) for dorm/training rooms, and a van for transportation. Lecaf is also in the process of designing a logo and new uniforms. Apparantly the uniforms in the pictures are temporary.
...aaaand interviews!
▶ Coach Cho Jung-woong.
I would like to thank the executives at Hwaseung who made the difficult decision to sponser a team.
Heading a pro gaming team through the years brought me much joy, but there were also many difficulties. As everyone knows, the realities of non-corporate teams are dark but we were always able to perservere thanks to the players who trusted and followed me.
Now we are reborn as team Lecaf. Now can can stretch the our cramped wings and become a new team. More than anything else, I'm happy that the practice conditions of our players will improve. I would like to bow my head to everybody at Hwaseung and express my gratitude.
After the good news we joked that "now we can eat beef instead of pork." It still feels like a dream.
▶ Bright[z-zOne] (Captain)
The ceremony is over but I still can't believe it. I feel like I'm dreaming. It's a little sad to let the Plus name go, because we've been with it through thick and thin. But it makes me very happy to continue on with the same players and coaches who went through hard times together.
I really will work hard and becomes a progamer that always contributes to this team. Now we can look back at all the hardships we had at Plus and laugh.
“To those who gave the green light at Hwaseung, thank you very much. I will do my best”
▶ Anytime
First of all I want to thank the executives at Hwaseung. I still can't believe it.
It's already been 2 years since I joined the team. There were all kinds of hardships in that time. At times when I lost practice time making dinner or doing the laundery I always envied the corporate team's players. All of my teammates were dreaming about this, and now that dream has become reality. I can see all our hardships flashing before my eyes. I do feel apologetic for the players who couldn't stay with us to this moment and left.
I want to thank our coach for sticking with me even when I was too nearsighted to see the big picture.
They say there is light at the end of the tunnel. I will do my best as a member of team Lecaf. More than anything, I will never forget the cold winter days we spent shivering when the boiler pipes burst. I will be a progamer who always plays with a beginner's frame of mind.
(there are more interviews with other team members, but it's mostly the same: thank you hwaseung, being unsponsered is real tough shit, now we will do our best and kick ass, etc.)
Part II: The corporate side
I'm going to summarize here. The representative from Hwaseung said the following:
- They have been considering this for two months. As a corporation, they have to do a lot of research, debate, and deliberation to see if this is a profitable move for the company. That's why it took so long.
- There is a lot of attention in the sportswear sector for Progaming. K-Swiss is a Hwaseung brand that supports Hanbit.("supporting" is different from "sponsering," mostly uniforms and such, no salaries for players or coaches.) Ellisse used to support Plus, Puma supports KTF, Adidas - SKT, FILA - Pantech and so on.
- Esports fans and the customer demographics for sportswear companies are almost alike. Fans = main customers. For clothes and shoe companies, e-sports is a good marketing tool.
- E-sports is a new genre of sports entertainment, with two channels dedicated to it, there is lots of penetration, and it's not just young people. The fans are more spread out than they thought. Lecaf wants to start a new marketing campaign, and starting a new team was the best way.
- Awknowledge that Plus is not a team with stars, but it is a team with much potential. Now they can focus 100% on practicing. The rest will be taken care of by Hwaseung. The goal is to become the best team in 3 years.
- Hwaseung has many interests in other ways to sponser e-sports as a whole. K-Swiss' support of Hanbit will continue independent of Plus team.
Part III: My take.
This is excellent news for progaming in general. The conditions between corporate and non-corporate teams were so different. For example, KTF has two housemaids and a cook. A team like Plus or POS has to divide the all the housekeeping amongst the players and coaches. For every team that gets properly sponsered, the progaming scene becomes stronger.
Many companies were tentatively looking into starting up a team, and now that Lecaf has put their chips on the table, hopefully other corporations will follow. Lecaf's participation hopefully means that e-sports is indeed profitable and mainstream enough to succeed for a long time in Korea.
This is good news for GO and POS, two strong teams who have been looking for a sponser.
For reference:
Big money teams: SKT T1, KTF Magic Ns, Pantec&Curitel Curriors, Samsung Khan
Medium money teams: Lecaf Plus,
Smaller money teams: Hanbitsoft, eNature Top Team
no sponser: G.O., POS, KOR, Soul
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Cool! you rock HonestTea!
Wouldn't want to read any more players saying that shit anyway so good decision not translating any more of it. And btw, who's Bright[z-zOne]
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Hmm.. Never thought non-sponsored team`s conditions were that bad...
GL Plus ! Rise and shine AnyTime !
btw is POS sponsored yet ???
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United States37500 Posts
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HonestTea
5007 Posts
Egosys's contract with POS expired a long time ago. POS had to wear the old uniforms with Egosys' name on it because they didn't have anything else to wear. Until Sketcher stepped in with a uniform sponsership. POS is sponser-less.
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How do these teams operate without a sponser? I mean with funding etc...
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
isn't GO sponsored by Suma? and wtf POS has no sponsors? wtf ?- _-;; so like julyzerg is #1 for free? O_o
and..
is this kid some new dude in Plus / lecaf?
click pic plz
and wtf kinda name is lecaf? makes me think of like ."Le Cafeteria". or something . anyway plus much better, but i guess its good for them to have a good sponsor and better living conditions etc etc..
oh and this person as well, looks pretty young to me:
pic2 click plz
and:
pic3 click plz
maybe im not that familiar with the PLUS team lineup but still.. they look really young lol o_O
[edit]
ok wait i think one of htem are hanbit but yeah w/e
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United States37500 Posts
GO is just GO now. Suma stop sponsorship a while back as well. Thanks HonestTea for the correction.
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HonestTea
5007 Posts
Sponser-less teams get money from appearance fees (every time a player/team goes on TV they get a small payment), tournament winnings, a little kickbacks from KESPA, and uniform/equipment deals.
GO has also made a lot of money selling their players to other teams. Nal_rA and TheMarine to KTF, GoRush and Midas to SKT has given them a good chunk of money to use.
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lol losing practice time making dinner and doing the laundry ... lawls
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France1270 Posts
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
oh thers a photo now..wtf the new uniform looks gross -_-;; the old one so much better lol. like white and red / orangey/ blue shit.. now its .. ..pukey green yellow + blue? WTF?
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HonestTea
5007 Posts
Oops, I should add that the uniforms in the pictures are temporary. Lecaf is letting a design firm come up with the new uniforms.
Added that to the main text.
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United States37500 Posts
Haha, it's all business...
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That's really good to hear. I fell that Anytime championship at So1 affected the decision very much. Props go to the coach, Anytime, the rest of the team, and also Hwaseung for having the balls.
And wassup with POS? They have Pusan and Julyzerg doing very well. I will cry if they never get a sponsor.
How about GO? Did midas and gorush leave because there was no sponsor? GO needs a sponsor, because maybe if there were two house maids and a cook serving xellos, he would smile more often. 
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
On February 27 2006 05:20 gokai wrote:That's really good to hear. I fell that Anytime championship at So1 affected the decision very much. Props go to the coach, Anytime, the rest of the team, and also Hwaseung for having the balls. And wassup with POS? They have Pusan and Julyzerg doing very well. I will cry if they never get a sponsor. How about GO? Did midas and gorush leave because there was no sponsor? GO needs a sponsor, because maybe if there was two house maids and a cook serving xellos, he would smile more often.
lol yeah anytimes' achievement probably affected ...
lol yeah julyzerg #1 k wtf nice no sponsor -_-
and...oh yeah i love the GO uniforms btw. those black hoodies are cool. i wanna get one xD.
haha xellos Smiling Terran ftw
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This is awesome news =D
Soon the other teams will get sponsored  ! weeeeeeeeeeeeee
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G.O. and POS without a sponsor is surprising. I would have definitely chosen to sponsor either GO or POS instead of Plus if I was from Lecaf management.
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On February 27 2006 07:58 tfeign wrote:
G.O. and POS without a sponsor is surprising. I would have definitely chosen to sponsor either GO or POS instead of Plus if I was from Lecaf management.
Yeah, but they sponsored a undergod team, I hope more players from that team, do good in Leagues and ProLeagues =P!
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is awesome32274 Posts
omg niceeeeeee i want to see the definete suits :D
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omg to become the best team in 3 years BW will never die (:
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United States5262 Posts
Wow this is an awesome news report HonestTea. It's people like you that make me enjoy visits to Teamliquid.net in the morning.
I'm surprised the POS or GO didn't get a sponsor before Plus. I mean, their teams are a bit better than Plus...
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that's good news for PLUS
hope that G.O and POS have sponsor as soon as possible
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SK T1 for the win
best team among them all !!!
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On February 27 2006 12:36 poppa wrote:
SK T1 for the win
best team among them all !!!
thank you captain random.
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why the hell is Enature sposored? when did one of their players make an appearance on TV the last time? Legionnaire like a year ago?
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At times when I lost practice time making dinner or doing the laundery I always envied the corporate team's players.
omg, take a break, Anytime!
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Anytime is going to be a monster in sc now that he can give up being a maid.
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HouseWifeToss would be a great nick for anytime;(
This is good news, nice HonestTea;)
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best part of the news: those uniforms are temporary.
lecaf... plus was better^^
anyways, good news. thanks for the translation.
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On February 27 2006 04:24 alffla wrote:isn't GO sponsored by Suma? and wtf POS has no sponsors? wtf ?- _-;; so like julyzerg is #1 for free? O_o and.. is this kid some new dude in Plus / lecaf? click pic plzand wtf kinda name is lecaf? makes me think of like ."Le Cafeteria". or something . anyway plus much better, but i guess its good for them to have a good sponsor and better living conditions etc etc.. oh and this person as well, looks pretty young to me: pic2 click plzand: pic3 click plzmaybe im not that familiar with the PLUS team lineup but still.. they look really young lol o_O [edit] ok wait i think one of htem are hanbit but yeah w/e
The first kid is Bak Sung Jin, better known as Sakurai[AeGis]
The second picture is of Lee Jae Dong, Zerg player, I don't know his ID
Last kid is Ha Dong Soo, better known as U-238[GnH], Terran player
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Why can't they use Lecaf Plus?
SK is T1. KTF is Magic something.
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They probably don't have a team name yet, but IMO it doesn't matter that much since most teams only use the company name anyway
SKT T1 (T1 stands for The One)
KTF MagicNs (Magicians)
Pantech & Curitel Curriors
Samsung Khan
eNature Top Team
HanBit Stars
I think those are all the SC teams with team names
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They were the best... I miss them >.<
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Very good to hear that progaming is getting more interest. GO plus or lecaf now.
Suma Go looks funny. Look at Midas.^_^
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the new uniforms suck, i don tlike the adidas one either, they are too sporty, i like the militaristic style better w/ the shoulder straps and stiff collar
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On February 27 2006 12:44 Eti307 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 27 2006 12:36 poppa wrote:
SK T1 for the win
best team among them all !!! thank you captain random.
Rofl gold.
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i really dislike that uniform
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Wow the Suma G.O Uniform looks so cool, I just don't get why they would sell Nal_ra, Gorush etc.
I mean they were really good players, by selling them they would only make the bigger teams (SKT T1 / KTF) even better while losing valuable team-members. Or alternatively they could of given away some other guys like f0ru or something...
(I think that's f0ru standing on the far-left...)
Also; POS doesn't have a sponser!? Everyday up until now I've believed that POS were still with Egosys. Even the Egosys POS uniform looked really cool (The Blueish-White one), the Black ones they were wearing at the Shinhan Bank OSL were horrific...
On February 27 2006 03:45 HonestTea wrote:
▶ Anytime
"It's already been 2 years since I joined the team. There were all kinds of hardships in that time. At times when I lost practice time making dinner or doing the laundery I always envied the corporate team's players."
Wow... I never knew being sponserless could be so difficult. (God... Imagine what POS are going through @@) Anytime cooking and doing Laundry instead of practicing!?
Anyway good luck to Anytime and the rest of the Lecaf Plus team.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFNEWS20060227163042001.JPG)
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