Imagine if Major League Baseball banned the Milwaukee Brewers and the Houston Astros for forgetting to pay their players and mistreating them. That’s what Riot allegedly did last night to two of their LCS teams, Renegades and Team Impulse, and one Challenger Series team, Team Dragon Knights. Riot released two lengthy rulings that basically said that all of these teams have lost their spots in the LCS and Challenger Series.
So what happened?
Chris Badawi is the owner of Team Renegades, but was given a temporary ban by Riot after an exposé by the Daily Dot emerged claiming he refused to pay his players and tried to poach players from other teams. These are allegations Riot takes very seriously and after its own investigation decided to ban him for a year.
According to Riot, Badawi had a deal with one of the co-owners of Team Renegades, Chris Mykles or Montecristo, “that would grant Badawi a 50 percent stake in the team once his suspension had expired.” Badawi worked on Renegades in a “non-owner capacity” that resulted in altercations between team members.
Badawi posted on Reddit entirely denying these claims:
TDK and RNG have also supposedly been working together closely, when Riot believed they were entirely separate entities. The organizations have been trading team members without telling Riot all the details of their relationship. Players were still living in the other team’s houses after they traded players and Riot doesn't like when team owners don’t disclose everything in trades. With all of this information, Riot decided to force these team owners to sell their teams by May 18. Selling an LCS spot usually takes months of hard work and negotiations, so who knows who will pay for these spots next.
MonteCristo,who’s a famed Korean fanboy and OGN caster, was a co-team owner of Renegades. He will still be casting, the only thing Riot took away from him was his team. Monte is not happy about this though, releasing a series of tweets denying Riot’s claims:
For those asking: I was never presented evidence by Riot for these claims, nor did I know most of them existed.
— MonteCristo (@MonteCristo) May 9, 2016
I will make a more complete statement in the future, but for the moment have been advised by counsel to wait to say more.
— MonteCristo (@MonteCristo) May 9, 2016
What about Team Impulse?
According to Riot’s Statement,throughout 2015 and 2016, TIP’s management hasn’t been paying their players on time or providing them with valid contracts. Riot makes LCS owners pay their players a minimum salary, and TIP’s owners were not ponying up. Players also claimed that Tip’s owners had promised them bonuses, but since they had no contracts, Riot can’t confirm this.
In March 2016, Riot found out that none of TIP’s players had signed a contract, which is entirely against the LCS rules. Working with Riot, all the players received valid contracts for the split. On top of being banned, TIP has to pay a $20,000 fine. Like RNG and TDK, TIP will have until May 18 to sell their LCS spot.
So what exactly does this mean for League of Legends and the NA LCS?
Riot is the be-all and end-all when it comes to the LCS and League of Legends, but it isn’t the only one with a say on the matter. Full statements from players, owners and MonteCristo will start to come out in the coming days, which might help paint a fuller story.
Remember that the real victims here are the players, who reportedly did nothing wrong. After ending the NA LCS Spring Split in last place, Renegades managed to claw their way out of relegations to earn another chance at LCS glory. These players might still stay with the team after it’s sold, but there are no guarantees when it comes to new team owners; Team Impulse is in the same boat.
Here's what eSports Law, a lawyer who works closely with eSports players had this to say:
Riot acts as judge, jury & executioner. They write, interpret,& enforce rules w/ no 3rd party input, transparency, or the opp to appeal.
— Bryce Blum (@eSportsLaw) May 9, 2016
