EPT
CJ is a big-time corporation in Korea, most well known for its media arm, CJ Entertainment, that you can equate to HBO or Showtime. The CJ Sponsorship is essentially "no limit"-- not literally no limit but very very generous and GO is basically set from here on financially speaking. Xellos will receive the largest salary among all progamers, and the other pros will also be compensated generously. Please no posts on "how much?!!!" Just let your imagination do the rest.
I've translated the Fighter Forum article on the topic written by reporter Jun-mo Sung (aka Enough) about the travails of the team and the coach, Cho Kyu-nam, in finally getting a real big time sponsor. It's pretty interesting, but I translated it quickly so it's not great but you can get the gist. The original article in Korean is here:
http://www.fighterforum.com/news/news_read.asp?cat=ISS&idx=11026
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The CJ Sponsorship: The Behind-the-scenes Story of GO sponsorship
After the sponsorship was finally settled, the person who was most emotionally drained was coach Cho Kyu-nam It was his 6th year in e-sports. In reality, Coach Cho wanted to quit many times in between. This is because it is difficult to run a team without corporate support. However, he was able to endure because of the players. He could not abandon these young players, whose passion for the game was so strong.
This February, Coach Cho was at a crossroads. He decided to send his players to the team they wanted if GO could not get a solid sponsorship. After deciding this, he contacted many different companies, over 20 in total. The sponsorship by CJ was due to his efforts and ability. From the CJ side, they said, "We would not even think of searching for another team to sponsor, other than team GO." Until the final decision had been made, Coach Cho was walking on pins and needles.
Marketing Business Owner Cho makes a Proteam
Coach Cho was formerly the head of an Marketing Business. This business conducted marketing, event planning, etc. Cho, who enjoyed games as a hobby, came to know Dong-woo Kim (current GO assistant coach, aka KIMDONGWOO) Il-suk Jang (winner of KBK, aka Love.Star), and others to form a team called ProSuma. In 2001 he added Dong-joon Kim (current MBC commentator, aka -N2=Rookie) and in August of that year he formally began his career in e-sports with a small sp<A name="cutnews"></A>onsorship with Gamei E-notes. Because of his marketing background, he also helped with Gamei's various offline events.
At the time, Coach Cho had support for an office in Yeoido but due to Gamei's bankruptcy he had to make a temporary office in Seoul's Jang-an-dong starting February 2002. Because corporate support suddenly dried up, he had to run the team from his own pockets. Even while using his own money, he became well known among progamers for taking full care of his players.
First sponsor Suma Electron
The name "GO" was from this point on. After talking with his players, they decided on the name "Greatest One." Although he had nothing, players came searching for him as he had gained a positive reputation among players. In-gyu Choi (aka Chrh) as well as Kim Jung-min (aka TheMarine) were both such cases.
At the time, there were over 50 teams, but they fell one by one until there were only 10 teams. Coach Cho persevered during this time. After 6 months in the temporary office, he met a savior, Suma Electron. Coach Cho took his players to Guro, Seoul, in August 2002.
GO, Drawing Attention From The Beginning
GO drew attention from 2002. GO first went on a broadcast game in 2003, but from the middle of 2002 there was already much word of mouth about GO, due to the quality of the players.
This was inevitable. At the time, other than Starleague and MSL, there was no stage where players could show themselves. After Gamei (which had continually sponsored offline tournaments) went bankrupt, there was no other offline tourney for a long time. At that time, KTF, which had continually invested in e-sports, planned a series of offline tournaments.
This series of tournaments started in July 2002 and every 2 weeks had a 6000 dollar mini-tourney. There were a total of 8 tourneys. GO won 5 of these tourneys. Min Kang (aka Nal_rA) won twice and runner up once, Jae-hoon Lee (aka fOru) won twice, and Jung-min Kim (The Marine) also won once. Other than the GO players, the three other winners were Yong-wook Park (aka Kingdom), Yong-ho cho (aka chojja) and Do-kyung Kang (aka HOT).
After these tournaments, GO became well known among those within e-sports. They became known to fans with the team leagues. GO won the Gaemongsa Team League and the Lifezone Team League, becoming known to fans. They also won the Ppimang Cup Proleague and established themselves as a top team.
The "Foundation" of GO Jin-hoon Seo (aka Xellos)
Even with such results, sponsorship did not happen. Due to bad economic trends, Suma Electron went bankrupt and the financial support ended. Coach Cho was in agony because he felt he had to treat the players as they had performed. He was suffering the same but he sympathized with the players' perspective more than anyone else.
So from 2004, Coach Cho began sending players who wanted to leave to other teams. There were players who needed the money, as well as players who wanted to go elsewhere. Coach Cho was satisfied as long as the players themselves could succeed.
During this time, Ji-hoon Seo (Xellos) was always at Coach Cho's side. Coach Cho continually said to Seo that he would let him go but Seo continually refused. Thus, whenever Coach Cho talks about Ji-hoon Seo he always says, "I feel grateful to him." Until this sponsorship, Ji-hoon was always a source of strength to Coach Cho.
There is no "My Money"
GO players take 30% off of their tourney winnings to pay for team operations. From 2003 to 2005, the total prize earnings of the GO players is slightly over 200,000 dollars. The players said "Coach, you can have the money" but Coach Cho used the money for the team, as he felt the money was not his.
In truth, Coach Cho never used money gained from the team for his own luxury. He invested all the money for players' uniforms, team vacations, etc. He did his best to feed, dress, and treat his players the same as any of the other sponsored teams.
"Definite Sponsorship"
Until this sponsorship, GO received many offers from other corporations. They regularly offered 100,000 dollar yearly salary to Ji-hoon Seo as well as top treatment for Coach Cho, and there was even one business that offered 500,000 to buy the team outright. Coach Cho refused them all. He felt he had to take care of the entire team.
Coach Cho also felt that this year was the turning point. So he set an ultimatum in February: "If the team cannot get sponsored within a month, I will disband the team." Perhaps because of this new dedication, he had many more meetings with businesses. He met 7 corporations in 1 month, and Coach Cho says, "Really, February was the toughest month."
Finally, choosing between the CJ group and "S" group, the players of GO had a meeting and chose to accept CJ Group's offer. Coach Cho was of the same mind. Although "S" group offered 100,000 more in bonus to the coach, he chose CJ because they offered more in player salary.
The CJ Group's Strong Offer
While negotiating the sponsorship, Coach Cho met with CJ many times. The most sensitive topic was the salary Coach Cho would receive. The CJ Group stated that "Thinking of Coach Cho's place and abilities, we should pay him the most of all the coaches" and offered 200,000 dollars in salary. But Coach Cho was the one to refuse, asking instead to raise the player salaries. He also felt that there was no need for him to receive a large salary in the first year of sponsorship.
Instead, Coach Cho asked that they think more of the players' salaries, so the players would not feel treated any less than any of their sponsored peers. The CJ group accepted his plea with gusto.
The CJ Group was also generous about the team residence. Because there was no suitable long-term location, they made a 1 year contract for a 150-pyung (pretty huge, can't really convert this :-P) villa in Bang-bae-dong, Seoul. CJ Group plans to move the residence to a larger and more comfortable place after a year. There is also a top-of-the-line team van, and the furnishings for the residence are beyond imagination.
Coach Cho says, "They have promised unlimited support that cannot be expressed solely in monetary terms," and that "our performance will equal the top treatment we are getting from CJ"
[edit: HonestTea was faster than me, I only saw after I wrote all this T.T Link in Manifesto's first reply ^^]
