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Riot hands out 2-year ban to pro League of Legends team for not paying players
Apparently not paying your professional eSports team is frowned upon by the organizations that pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in tournament winnings, as Riot Games has just handed out a two-year ban to Team Immunity for failing to live up to its financial obligations.
“Teams in the [Oceanic Pro League] sign an agreement with Riot in which they agree to pay a minimum match payment to their players within a set period,” Riot explained in its ruling. “In split 1 of the 2015 season, the OPL required teams to remit match payments to players within 30 days of receiving payment from Riot. In split 2 of the 2015 season, the OPL required teams to remit match payments to players within 21 days of receiving payment from Riot.
“In both splits, multiple reports from players alleged that Team Immunity failed to pay them their owed match payments within a reasonable margin of time. Upon investigation, we confirmed that these payments were outstanding within the agreed-upon time period and that Team Immunity were in violation of their team agreement.”
As a result, Team Immunity and their ownership will be unable to compete in the 2016 OPL season, and the ruling states they are also “prohibited from involvement with any team competing in any League of Legends fixture for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.” The individual players themselves are still allowed to compete, but they must do so under a different organization.
“As esports grows, so does the investment required of professional players who compete at the highest level,” Riot said. “The OPL believes it is important that professional players in Oceania receive match payments to compensate them for the time and effort they put into their play, as well as the pressures they face. We believe it is unacceptable for organisations to repeatedly withhold or delay payments owed to their players.”
Riot added, “Unfortunately, Team Immunity has repeatedly proven they are not capable of operating at the standards we expect on behalf of their players and fans. The players themselves, however, have done nothing wrong here, and we will work with them as they decide what path to follow in the 2016 season of OPL.”
photo credit: IMG_0331 via photopin (license)
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