MLG Potential Prize Pool Increase - Page 25

On July 30 2011 07:51 UniversalMind wrote:
Incontrol is know for being extremely inconsistent so his post does not shock me

On July 30 2011 07:39 Immolate wrote:


why does mlg continue then? theres got to be at least some incentive to continue and its prob not some bullshit like doing it for the fans because everything is for profits.

On July 30 2011 07:58 sanddbox_tl wrote:


The word you're looking for is "hypocritical", or perhaps "douche-tastic".

On July 30 2011 07:58 sanddbox_tl wrote:


The word you're looking for is "hypocritical", or perhaps "douche-tastic".

On July 30 2011 07:44 Serene wrote:


MLG is a Venture Capital Project. Most investors expect a loss in the first few years of operations but expect empirical evidence of sustainability within that time span. To do this Sundance is trying to get the subscriptions up, otherwise as he pointed out they could lose future funding. Leading to cuts across the board which he acknowledged in his second post.

On July 30 2011 08:25 Flaccid wrote:
Just for shits, I'm gonna put this in perspective:

On July 30 2011 07:23 s4life wrote:


The actual figures for UFC fighters -- the most popular ones like Lesnar -- are around 500K per fight... the individual bonuses are not disclosed though...

On July 30 2011 08:25 Flaccid wrote:
Just for shits, I'm gonna put this in perspective:

• 3 month subscription to MLG: $10. Depending on the dates, this can net you 2 or 3 events
  
• 12 month subscription to MLG: $30. This will get you all six events

Now for the perspective part: As a dude watching online, it cost me $455 to watch MLG Columbus. I know, right? Here's how it went down:

I had to attend a wedding that weekend way, way, way out of town. In order to ensure that I could watch the Friday night games and sneak out between the ceremony and reception to catch some Saturday, I booked a hotel for two nights. The only hotel in the town with TVs that I could hook an HDMI cable into. Given that we already had a place to crash, this was an extra cost.

• Hotel room: $240
  
• HD pass for the weekend: $10

But it turns out that I would also miss the Saturday night games because the reception was super long and I was asked to help with the cleanup which would keep me busy until about 3 am. To combat this, I purchased the Justin.TV app for my iPhone so that I could watch it all night.

• Justin.TV iPhone App: $5

The tricky thing with this setup is that unlimited data plans in Canada occupy the same realm of myth as UFOs, Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Moster. I burned through my subscription data pretty darn quickly.

• Additional data charges on my cellphone bill: $120

And that's where it should end, right? Wrong. Because I was totally distracted and watching MLG while the reception was going on, I totally missed the dodge when some girl threw up on me. Curdled milk puke is tough to get out of a suit.

• Dry-cleaning bill: $80

And that brings the grand total, all in an effort to watch MLG Columbus while in the middle of nowhere, to $455. And know what? It was worth it. Almost.

On July 30 2011 08:33 ArturosII wrote:


This doesn't put anything in perspective because it's not a normal situation.

On July 30 2011 02:41 SundanceMLG wrote:



Months ago you gave me shit about the prize pool and now I'm putting a simple and obtainable goal out there for the entire community and you give me shit again - and that's fine. I still respect you and appreciate what you've done and will continue to do for the scene. My question is this - if the number was 50,000 would you take an issue with my approach? How about 15,000? What if I didn't say a thing and just watched my spreadsheets populate with numbers and kept the community in the dark? Shouldn't the people who love this have some insight into what is needed for success?

You're either in or you're out. $30 a year from 100,000 people makes this company a real business and not just a passion project from a guy with a hippy name who refuses to quit. $30 a year from 10,000 people means that we're all wrong and there isn't enough fan support to sustain a business of scale.

Less than a dime a day from less than 10% of the people who visit our site over the course of an event weekend allows me to flip a switch and change next year to a structure that supports 24 live events & 28 meaningful ladders. 52 competitions with nearly 2 million dollars of prize money and stipends.

Again - I don't care if you think I'm an asshole or a money grubbing prick. I just want to find out if what we do is actually meaningful to enough of you to step up.

On July 30 2011 08:25 Flaccid wrote:
And that brings the grand total, all in an effort to watch MLG Columbus while in the middle of nowhere, to $455. And know what? It was worth it. Almost.

On July 30 2011 07:29 hellsan631 wrote:


That's nice. Except, your still confused on what we actually wanted from you. I would be surprised if there were 100,000 people willing to give up 30$, considering the largest broadcasts of sc2 to date have been around the 80k concurrent range. Considering that a fraction of people will actually pay for anything, that's around say 40k at most, would be willing to buy your pass.

That is, if you didn't cast your self as someone who isn't really "in touch" with its user base. By that, i mean the fact that you think that we want "more prize pool". While more prize pool would be nice (and i'm not complaining), its NOT what was asked for from the community, and on SOTG.

What Tyler was referring too, and what made you the laughing stock of the community, was the fact that the prize pool distribution is way too heavy for the winner of mlg, and gives nothing for the top most players. He/We were suggesting that instead of first place being 5000, and so on down the line, paying out till 8th place, he wanted something that was of a lower first place, and paid more, say, for the people who placed in the top 14 or so. (3000 1st, 2000 2nd, 1500 3rd, 1200 4th, 1000 5th, 800 6-8th, etc. Same prize pool) *These arn't the exact numbers, just something i came up with on the top of my head.

Of course, you wouldn't actually be able to sign out and give that very large check, with the cool background, and the higher prize pool on it. (Ego anyone?) Instead, you turn the table, and change the problem to what it would take for a large prize pool.

We know that you will be able to give more if you get more. Its common sense. What we need is a slight taste, relating that back to a previous success (like how your moving sc2 to the main stage area).

What we don't need is for someone to shove t-shirts down our throats, products to buy, and being told that if your not buying, your not helping. Saying these things makes the value of your brand go down, and makes you seem a little bit obtuse.

When football started out as a professional sport, do you think the owners of teams went around the stadiums, making speeches, going on newspaper and radio, and talking about the financial stability of the sport, and begging people to throw money at him? (no, they did this in private, talking to investors and sponsors)

MLG will succeed or fail, not due to the amount of people that throw money at you, but because of your sponsorships and viewer numbers. (Which is something that you cannot ask directly for.) Increased viewer numbers (premium or not), will increase sponsorship interest, which will in turn help generate that 3 million you are asking for.

So instead of asking people for their money, please, ask just for their willingness to watch MLG, (people might be more interested in buying an mlg membership if they can "trust" the company they are buying it from). In the long run, becoming a sustainable business (or professional sport) has whole lot to do with how you present your product, and how many people you can get to watch it.