EPT
The whole point of this organization is not to take the SC2 Korean scene by the balls like Kespa did for SC1, it's to make sure the teams and players are protected and promoted to max potential.
The fact of the matter is this: in SC1 things were a lot worse for the players than any of you can imagine. I can't go into detail on specifics, but players rights were certainly being violated by terms in the contract which they had no choice to abide by because there was nothing to protect them. Things like any prize money earned or revenue generated from event appearances was either somewhat or completely being taken by the sponsors of the teams. The amounts of course varied by teams. Some didn't take much and some took everything. Yes it was bad. The reason why they could do this is because Kespa was organized by the sponsors and controlled the players. Either the progamer abided by their terms or they didn't get to play.
And while, from a business perspective, the sponsors got more than enough out of marketing from paying X00,000$~equivalent per year to sponsor a team, marketing value is intangible and companies will strive to do whatever they can to make as much real money as they can. Whether or not turning players into 'slaves' by wringing as much real $ out of them through taking prize money and event appearance pay amongst other things is 'unethical' or not is completely up for debate.
Remember: the SC1 scene in Korea grew from literally nothing in less than 10 years into a massive industry. The rate of growth was phenomenal, and the only reason why this happened was because the sponsors decided to jump in and get involved. If a team originally approached a sponsor and said "hey pay us 400k a year to run our team and we'll wear your logo!" obviously when SC1 in Korea wasn't as big any company would have just laughed at that. Thats why things started off and continued the way they were: Teams had to entice sponsors to sponsor them. So please don't say the sponsors were/are being 'unfair.' It simply had to be that way.
Now, fast forward to present day. The industry in Korea has grown so big that not only do companies not need to violate players' rights, but through news portals and such or players speaking out, it would be suicidal for their images. But, at the same time, the dawn of the SC2 world is a ravenous jungle. Everyone in Korea (players, coaches, sponsors) realize the massive potential to make money.
Imagine if there was no sort of unity amongst the players and teams. What would happen? What would happen is the sponsors would have the exact same power over everyone as they did in SC1. Reality is that progamers, managers, coaches, etc. all have no $ and will have to accept deals sooner or later whether they like it or not. Without any sort of unity sponsors could abuse this 'desperate' state of teams and give them far less than they are worth, which is not good. The industry is too developed, it would be idiotic for the teams not to form some sort of union to prevent this from happening and get what they deserve.
This is where the new association comes in. It was made to help the teams create a fluid unity amongst eachother to ensure that teams' and players' rights are upheld. It will also help teams communicate and work together to make their marketing value increase. If everyone were out for themselves nobody would win here.
Does TL need to be involved in this right now? No. As far as the Korean scene is concerned, TL isn't something they need to care about at the moment. Sure, it generates a lot of interest in the foreign scene and is very good for GOMtv/Blizzard, but in reality just because TL has some non-koreans living in the OGS house doesn't mean anything.
The rates of growth of the Korean scene and the non-Korean scene will determine when sponsored foreign teams like TL or others might want to get involved with the decision making process in an association like this. While for now it's too early to tell, in my opinion within a year or two we will have LOTS of non-Koreans flying into Korea for tournaments or to live as a professional team, and we will have LOTS of Koreans flying around the world to international events. And then we will need clear lines of communication. But that time is not yet, it's merely beginning.
The SC2 scene is still young. I can definitely see a future where Nazgul/TLAF(orwhomever may be sponsoring the team in the future if TLAF decides to stop) wants to get a lot more involved in the Korean scene/press to help expand the industry in Korea for the good of the foreign scene, TL.net, and the Korean scene (lets face it we all know the fans LOVE seeing non-Koreans do well in Korean tournaments). When that time comes obviously it will happen, so it's pointless for people to just spam posts "TL.net SHOULD BE INVOLVED!"
For now, TL.net or any other foreign team for that matter doesn't have any real reason to get involved. For now, we just have to let the Koreans do their thing in Korea and international teams/tournaments do their thing outside Korea and all do our best as fans, players, casters, sponsors (whichever the hell you are, because if you're reading this you're one of those LOL) to watch, talk about, and promote the scene as much as possible.
I hope that clarified things.
