And around the same time, at the Sky House, home to some Super Smash Bros. players and other content creators, 20 people were crammed into four bedrooms. Leaders of the house fostered an abusive and exploitative culture.
“The wild west of people sleeping on floors is long past us,” said Chris Greeley, commissioner of the LCS. “Professional athletes are treated as professional athletes.”
Agents, in part, have helped the industry move beyond the “shenanigans” of the past, said Danan Flander, general manager of the Golden Guardians, the esports arm of the Golden State Warriors, which has a franchised spot in the LCS. They can help “smooth over” past abuses on both the agent and organizational sides. 먹튀검증
“The better [agents] get at their jobs, the more educated players get, and the more experienced orgs get on this front, the better it is for everybody,” Flander said.
With a lot more eyes watching the industry and money on the line, no one wants to be the next trending story on Twitter for taking advantage of players.
“I think it’s important to understand that with the legitimacy of ecosystems, like the ecosystem of esports, comes a lot more scrutiny,” said Travis Mynard, former head of global player management at Riot Games and current agent for United Talent Agency (UTA). “And with that, it means that anytime you mess up, you mess up tenfold.”
And to prevent any future abuses by agents, the ESIC is working on a certification process for the professionals who represent players. An industry-led subcommittee will make recommendations to the commissioner on the best way to approach a “global regulatory scheme,” as stated in the organization’s press release.
“What we didn’t want is to leave [agent certification] open to governments to be reactionary in nature,” Hanna said. “We wanted to pragmatically put a framework in place that essentially formed self-regulation that agencies were willing to accept.”
Negotiating contracts is at the heart of what agents do. It’s a delicate dance between agents, who by law must do their best to ensure financial stability for their client, and general managers who want to recoup costs for dropping thousands, sometimes millions, on prospective players.
When Barry Lee, co-founder and director of esports at Evolved Talent Agency, negotiates a contract with a team, his priorities are on term length, bonuses, and base salary. Those clauses are some of the most important from a player’s perspective.
Lee also keeps a close eye on termination language, particularly force majeure, which frees parties from liability in circumstances outside the team or player’s control. That clause took on new relevance with COVID-19 since past live events, which are now returning to the scene, had to be canceled indefinitely. He also protects players’ intellectual property, image, and likeness, ensuring teams don’t own it in perpetuity.
From the perspective of Flander, contract negotiations are anything but standardized. That stems from an overall lack of experience in the space.
