ECL '25: Pre-season Information - The Puck Drops Today!

This has been added to the above article:

"When searching, leave the Grudge Match setting off."

It sucks big time that you guys are forcing Oljefondet to play in a higher division than they feel they belong in.
And the result of this is that they decided to not play at all in the pre-cup.
My team is actually having a vote if we should withdraw before we play any games to show support for Oljefondet.
I know we are unknown players in my team but maybe more teams will follow.
I know that we will get punished if we do but what you guys do is wrong.

SG and Kenu have their own agenda. That does not seem to include listening to their players. How this case has been handled is totally amateur-level. One (1) day before puckdrop we got the news of this - ONE day! No chance of any discussions or say in the matter what so ever! 
 

A large part of the swedish NHL gaming-community has been updated and support from the bigger names and teams in Sweden will hopefully come in the future since Kenu and SG are operating more like a economically driven scam instead of a community every player and team can thrive in based on their own level and ambition. 
 

//Oljefondet

Our decision to place Oljefondet in a higher division in the warmup tournament than 'they want to play in' is due to us wanting to preserve and uphold the competitive integrity of the ECL.

Oljefondet finished first in their ECL Neo group last season, progressing all the way to the semi finals, before losing to the eventual champion of ECL Neo (ECL Neo during this season had 50+ teams). Since then, Oljefondet has at the very least carried forward a roster of equal skill level to their previous season, and so we do not feel that ECL Neo would be an appropriate place for them to play, especially as ECL Neo is meant to be a place where players and teams wholly new to the game can play without matching up against opponents who are in a completely different skill bracket. This has been outlined in the past whenever the issue of competitive integrity regarding ECL Neo has come up and we have remained consistent when applying said principle.

Furthermore, we would like to remind teams that ultimately playing in SportsGamer hosted tournaments is a privilege, not a right. Nobody has the right to play in ECL Neo just because they want to if they would then upset the skill balance within the division. Similarly, on the opposite end of the spectrum, no one has the right to play in ECL Elite just because they are nominally good but haven't earned the chance to play in the division. Therefore, while we appreciate that it is annoying to potentially get 'pushed' into a situation that isn't comfortable, please understand that we are doing this (and again, we have done so in the past with other teams who we deemed to not be an appropriate fit for ECL Neo) to promote competitiveness and push players, and teams, to be the very best that they can be - nothing more, nothing less.

Finally, to close this post off, we would like to pay particular attention to a couple of Oljefondet's claims. One, the claim that this decision was last minute and 'not okay'. The decision meant that they were placed into a different division in the free-to-play warmup tournament, which is one month away from the start of the upcoming ECL. As such, while we appreciate the frustration from the decision coming so close to the start of the warmup tournament and will look to make more of an effort at being more proactive at releasing important information sooner in future. We also feel it's a good moment for a bit of perspective as ultimately the warmup tournament is an elective competition that no team is forced to sign up for, carries no sign-up fee, and is meant to be something for teams to use first and foremost as practice against similarly ranked opponents. Two, the claim that this move was motivated by money (license fees). While there is no denying finances and keeping SportsGamer going is important, as without some money being injected into the operations we wouldn’t be able to provide the level of tournament quality that we currently offer, the decision to move Oljefondet up a division was 100% based on maintaining competitive integrity. We have asked teams to move / change divisions in the past and a non-insignificant amount of them have been asked to drop down a division (and therefore pay a lower amount to SportsGamer), as such we feel that this argument put forth by Oljefondet is not a fair conclusion to arrive to.

- LA

Maybe you think you’re done but we are not.

That was a lot of words to cover up your own mistake - not giving us an option just one day ahead of puck drop. We signed up as soon it opened up. Thats several weeks ago - and thats where the low level of handling this starts. It seems to end with Sg not being able to aknowledge the fact that youre not consistent. You’re bumping us up to a higher division after one successfull run. Other teams, better than us which have been a part of the neo-division for several years without being threated this way. 
 

When we founded our team we didnt think it would end because SG decided to alter the possibilities for us to continue. Core or lite demand a lot more of time and organizing - in addition to a higher level. It’s a strange thing that isnt a factor when you guys decide which teams should be on a higher level.