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[ashecitism]

http://www.e-frag.net/news/esports/509/esports-team-union-demands

While it has never been mentioned in a formal capacity it has been evident in the omnipresence of the same brands at not just major events but also at meetings to map out e-sports future, such as ESL’s failed bid for an exclusivity league. Primarily the union had communicated in unofficial channels, with several tournament organisers speaking privately of finding themselves having to change details of their events to ensure that teams attended. Now we can see the members and their proposals in public for the first time.

The e-mail, that was sent to representatives of major tournament organisers ESL, DreamHack, StarLadder, FACEIT, PGL, MLG, CEVO, Joindota, Dotacinema, One Game Agency (DotaPit & CounterPit), ESEA, ESWC, Dreamz Media, BTS, Fragbite and Gfinity, was written by the CEO of Ukrainian e-Sports organisation Na’Vi Alexander Kokhanovskyy. He has been involved in such matters before, most notably after a dispute with the organisers of Copenhagen Games in 2013 that saw them withdraw from the competition. This prompted him to publish a “Manifesto of Responsibility” aimed at such tournaments and since then he has been trying to gather team owners together to ensure better treatment.

He has found willing participants it seems. The e-mail lists Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, CLG, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, Team SoloMid, Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Titan and EnVyUs as represented but doesn’t make it clear if that is the complete membership.

While it is true that some tournament organisers have for some time needed to raise their game in terms of how they treat attendees, there is a possibility that some tournament organisers will not be able to meet these demands and, in the absence of big names attending, struggle to secure sponsors. It is also worth mentioning that multiple players who represent the organisations listed as being members of this team union were approached and they were unaware these requests were being made on their behalf.

more at the link including the letter. This is mostly for CS:GO/Dota, but there are some things for HotS and Hearthstone listed too.

This is not a player's union, but a team's union and as per the article

No. As the piece explains, many players had no idea these demands were being made on their behalf @railgun1123

https://twitter.com/RLewisReports/status/650307133142134784

 

[Proven]

I'm surprised this didn't get more responses. Had to google search this out after hearing the news on Reddit. Is most of the discussion happening in the DotA 2 thread?

 

[Mifec]

ty Richard Lewis the hero we need.

 

[CountAntonius]

Good. lot of money at these tournaments. The teams should be protected.

 

[ashecitism]

I don't think the teams need protection, but the players themselves. This isn't what most people were thinking of when the discussion was about unions.

 

[Proven]

I don't think the teams need protection, but the players themselves. This isn't what most people were thinking of when the discussion was about unions.

Yeah, this could end up like a lot of those college sports issues where the organization owns all the rights and the players barely get anything.

 

[Ikuu]

Good. lot of money at these tournaments. The teams should be protected.

The players are the ones that needed protecting.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

So what does this mean exactly? Want to get into the competitive CSGO scene so I want to understand what this means exactly.

 

[Omega]

No. As the piece explains, many players had no idea these demands were being made on their behalf @railgun1123

So organizations are demanding higher prize pools and that event organizers pay for travel and hotel.

Yet they didn't even discuss this with the players, so if they didn't even bother to talk to the players about it I doubt they get salary increases even though orgs get to cut expenses and potentially bring in more revenue.

 

[tootsi666]

So what does this mean exactly? Want to get into the competitive CSGO scene so I want to understand what this means exactly.

Some teams (or organizations would be the better term) part of this union might skip some smaller tournaments they would have previously participated in. If this gets out of control we might see some sort of cartel that hurts the players a lot. Hopefully it won't get to that and this union will just work behind the scenes with stuff like travel support.

It shouldn't really matter for the average viewer.

 

[CountAntonius]

I don't think the teams need protection, but the players themselves. This isn't what most people were thinking of when the discussion was about unions.

The players are the ones that needed protecting.

I misunderstood what this was about. Yeah I'm not really a fan. I agree that the players needs should come first.