08.09.10 - Danish CS players kicked from wCrea
Today the successful Danish players from wCrea who recently won the Danish World Cyber Games qualifier, was kicked by their French organization. Alongside the disbanding of the players, the French management of wCrea has made a misleading statement about eSport Danmark as well as the Danish WCG license holder eSport Open. We will hereby comment on the statement which has been split into parts:
Statement by wCrea part 1:
”Today wCrea and the CS team of ArcadioN split ways. After three weeks of negotiations with the organisers of the WCG Denmark, ArcardioN and his players have failed to win the case concerning the travel cost of their coach, Marck. We have within the structure also tried to contact them in order to get the right to be in the same boat as all other teams participating, which is the right to bear the name of our organisation and the right to wear t-shirts representing our partners.”
Comment by eSport Danmark:
Neither eSport Danmark who is in charge of Team Denmark or eSport Open who is the license holder of the World Cyber Games in Denmark has been in direct contact with the French management of wCrea. The only contact between eSport Danmark, eSport Open and wCrea has been with the players, as well as Marc 'MarcK' Kjærgaard and Dennis ”KoK^” Corell Iversen.
Statement by wCrea part 2:
"Arguments then started with the organisers, because Denmark is the only country where the organisers have acquired the rights to promote their country (for a paid fee to WCG) in order to self-manage their teams, inviting mTw was also one of their conditions for this partnership. A Danish television channel has negotiated with the Danish organisers to get the rights to the media attraction around their teams, Team Denmark 1 (wCrea) and Team Denmark 2 (mTw). The problem is that such partnerships cuts supplies of these two structures because it prevents the communication of their partners to one of the biggest events of the year, and therefor, in our case, EurosportBET has declined to support our team."
Comment by eSport Danmark:
Denmark has no special license agreement than other WCG license holders around the world. It has always been up to the respective national license holders of the WCG whether to allow or to prevent qualified teams and players from using their own sponsors. This is the way things have been done through many years within WCG, as the national license holder pays for everything and thus have to be able to promote its own sponsors. This policy was made clear by the WCG license holder eSport Open on July 12th to all teams and players prior to the Danish 2010 qualification. Link (Danish): http://wcg.esportopen.com/nyheder/33/No TV station or media has exclusive rights to news coverage of Team Denmark.
Statement by wCrea part 3:
"So we contacted WCG again to negotiate the abandonment of the supported travels expenses by the Danish organisers in order to let us pay with our own funds and therefor have the right to wear our name and represent our sponsors, this was again refused by the Danish organisers. Time goes by and a few days ago we learn through our players that the organisers still refuses to take charge of the traveling expenses of the coach who is an essential element in our team, in fact, our players refuse to attend the event without him and that it is our task to as the teams organisation, to pay for him."
Comment by eSport Danmark:
On an information meeting with the players on August 31st it came to our attention that negotiations was ongoing between the players, as well as Marc 'MarcK' Kjærgaard, Dennis ”KoK^” Corell Iversen and the French management of wCrea. We informed the players, as well as Marc and Dennis that it was possible for Marc to participate as manager of the players and to promote wCrea outside of the tournament areas of WCG as long as it did not conflict with the activities of promoting the Danish national team sponsors. However Marc or wCrea had to pay themselves as we have a policy of not covering travel expenses of managers, friends etc. The same agreement has fx. been made with the management of mTw whom we are in direct daily contact with in order to coordinate all promotion activities around Team Denmark. As mentioned in the comment to “Statement by wCrea part 1”, neither eSport Danmark who is in charge of Team Denmark or eSport Open who is the license holder of the World Cyber Games in Denmark has been in direct contact with the French management of wCrea.
Statement by wCrea part 4:
"We refuse immediately by explaining to the players that the organisers have done nothing for us in order to enjoy the same advantages that all other participating teams at WCG have and that in the contract made with the players, Mack would be supported in the travel expenses only if the team had found a "SIDESPONSOR" for his travelling. In addition we add that for the media attraction of this TV show, and to show that he wanted to do great things, it was for them to understand that Marck was important for the team in order to repeat the results of the WCG.DK qualifications. They still refused, so the players turned back to us, be we stayed with our decision and are still quite bitter at having lost a chance to get a very good partnership with EurosportBET because of the obligation of the organiser."
Comment by eSport Danmark:
As mentioned in the comment to “Statement by wCrea part 2”, it is up to the respective national license holders of the World Cyber Games whether to allow or to prevent qualified teams and players from using their own sponsors. Also as mentioned in “Statement by wCrea part 1” and in “Statement by wCrea part 3”, neither eSport Danmark who is in charge of Team Denmark or eSport Open who is the license holder of the World Cyber Games in Denmark has been in direct contact with the French management of wCrea.
Epilogue by eSport Danmark:
It is the purpose of eSport Denmark to promote and strengthen Danish eSport. In order to be successful with this, significant time and money is invested into the Danish national eSport team. As a result of this eSport Danmark is not able to let teams or players promote their own sponsors, as this would undermine the integrity of eSport Danmark. This policy is shared by most sports organizations around the world, fx. in soccer, basketball etc.
The media interest of the Danish national eSport team as well as the Danish World Cyber Games qualifier has increased significantly since eSport Open became the WCG license holder in Denmark and entered into partnership with eSport Danmark. In fact during 2009 there was more coverage in Danish newspapers, TV etc. about WCG than all together during the history of WCG in Denmark. In 2010 the media interest has expanded rapidly to include live appearance on national TV etc.
It is our strong belief that any organization should be proud of having its players represented on a national team and thus receive great exposure in the media with indirect promotion of their own organization. We have strong traditions of communicating directly with the management of the respective teams and players qualified for Team Denmark. This dialogue is vital for both parties in order to secure mutual promotional benefits.
eSport Danmark do not wish to enter into speculations of why wCrea would make a misleading statement, however it is our firm belief that it is mainly due to misunderstanding and lack of communication.
"The fact that the Danish Counter-Strike players is no longer represented by wCrea has no impact on the players participation in Team Denmark. We are pleased that the players can now focus 100% on the preparations for World Cyber Games instead of negotiating with their organization. We all look very much forward to seeing the players in action in Los Angeles and rest asure that the players will find a new home subsequently to the World Cyber Games Grand Finale.", says Jens Christian Ringdal, president of eSport Danmark.
For further information please contact president of eSport Danmark, Jens Christian Ringdal (+45) 21 66 16 66 – mail: jcr(a)esportdanmark.dk
wCrea after succesfully winning the Danish World Cyber Games 2010 qualifier. (c) eSport Open
