EPTOn October 17 2012 22:55 RoninKenshin wrote:
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Poor Eve. What will she do now? And how will I be able to meet her and her incredibly cute friends if she no longer has reason to show up to events?
On a side note, Cella told me once that Intel sponsorship was only designated for Boxer. So while they Slayers was one of the richest teams during conception, it was all in Boxer/Jessica pockets. I'm sure they dug into that to fund the house and what not, but the players were definitely not paid even close to substantially. And even if they did pay out the entire $200,000 + other sponsorships to the players, it would still just amount to your basic full-time minimum wage salary at best (in the meagre Korean minimum wage, not the luxurious other country ones).
The problem with all of the GSL teams was that they were created without major sponsors in hopes that SC2 would become incredibly popular and that they would cash out. The wave wasn't as big as they thought, and both teams and players stuck with it as long as possible in order to see if they could make it. This leads massive player hops, especially when someone suddenly breaks out and the spotlight is on him. Sure players were bound by contracts, but when your compensation is like $500 a month, and you're a minor without enough of a reputation/assets to care about being sued, those contracts mean very little to you. Fast forward to today, none of Slayers A-team sees a point in chasing the dream any more and realize that LoL seems to be a more lucrative option (but will probably succumb to the same problems, as the system is essentially the same, just the viewership is a bit higher).
Every single Kespa team (save team 8) is backed by the largest companies in Korea, and receives enough money to pay 6 figure salaries to their top players, compensation that would be worth sacrificing a regular job for to mid performers and the rest, as well as take entire teams of 15-25 to Hawaii or whatever for Proleague celebrations/training camps. We're talking well over the $1 million mark to make a team worth joining (and sacrificing your chances of getting accepted into a good university, which is what Koreans live and die for).
Long story short, this is not Boxer's fault. This is not Jessica's fault. This certainly isn't sweet beautiful Eve's fault. This is simply a result of projected returns on investment not being realized during the GSL gold rush. Luckily IM got LG and ST got Redbull, although I'm sure that they do not receive as much money as Kespa teams. Management for GSL teams strikes me as a bit incompetent.
You can go as far as to say that this is GSL's fault. They created a league for the game while it was still in beta with a massive prize pool that seemed too good to pass up. At a rate of one massive tournament per month/2months in which 64 spots got paid and first place was $100,000 and 2nd place $50,000, people had to scramble to turn their clans of friends into "teams," and never had time to establish proper contracts, operation systems, long term plans, competent management, and so on. Today could be very different if GSL had a smaller tournament for the Beta, and gave time for teams to properly form before the next tournaments, so as to not leave room for all the player stealing/leaving/dissatisfaction controversies we've had over these past 2 years that scare away sponsors.
Makes you think.
I love Eve.
On a side note, Cella told me once that Intel sponsorship was only designated for Boxer. So while they Slayers was one of the richest teams during conception, it was all in Boxer/Jessica pockets. I'm sure they dug into that to fund the house and what not, but the players were definitely not paid even close to substantially. And even if they did pay out the entire $200,000 + other sponsorships to the players, it would still just amount to your basic full-time minimum wage salary at best (in the meagre Korean minimum wage, not the luxurious other country ones).
The problem with all of the GSL teams was that they were created without major sponsors in hopes that SC2 would become incredibly popular and that they would cash out. The wave wasn't as big as they thought, and both teams and players stuck with it as long as possible in order to see if they could make it. This leads massive player hops, especially when someone suddenly breaks out and the spotlight is on him. Sure players were bound by contracts, but when your compensation is like $500 a month, and you're a minor without enough of a reputation/assets to care about being sued, those contracts mean very little to you. Fast forward to today, none of Slayers A-team sees a point in chasing the dream any more and realize that LoL seems to be a more lucrative option (but will probably succumb to the same problems, as the system is essentially the same, just the viewership is a bit higher).
Every single Kespa team (save team 8) is backed by the largest companies in Korea, and receives enough money to pay 6 figure salaries to their top players, compensation that would be worth sacrificing a regular job for to mid performers and the rest, as well as take entire teams of 15-25 to Hawaii or whatever for Proleague celebrations/training camps. We're talking well over the $1 million mark to make a team worth joining (and sacrificing your chances of getting accepted into a good university, which is what Koreans live and die for).
Long story short, this is not Boxer's fault. This is not Jessica's fault. This certainly isn't sweet beautiful Eve's fault. This is simply a result of projected returns on investment not being realized during the GSL gold rush. Luckily IM got LG and ST got Redbull, although I'm sure that they do not receive as much money as Kespa teams. Management for GSL teams strikes me as a bit incompetent.
You can go as far as to say that this is GSL's fault. They created a league for the game while it was still in beta with a massive prize pool that seemed too good to pass up. At a rate of one massive tournament per month/2months in which 64 spots got paid and first place was $100,000 and 2nd place $50,000, people had to scramble to turn their clans of friends into "teams," and never had time to establish proper contracts, operation systems, long term plans, competent management, and so on. Today could be very different if GSL had a smaller tournament for the Beta, and gave time for teams to properly form before the next tournaments, so as to not leave room for all the player stealing/leaving/dissatisfaction controversies we've had over these past 2 years that scare away sponsors.
Makes you think.
I love Eve.
*speechless* I'm in awe of this post, but I honestly only turned into pro-SC2 just after the first few seasons of GSL.. Would love to see what others with more knowledge think about this post.
