Kenu

For the record, I don't recall saying that is my idea of how it should be. Sure, it's one of the options that people have brought up. I agree about ECL and that it should not be compromised, but talking about the options and highlighting the problematics with the different approaches is not a bad thing in my opinion. This was a bit confusing for me. Is it just business or something bigger? If you read my post, I believe you should know it's not "just business" - however, I'm sure we can agree that a smart business approach can bring sustainability and growth. One should not associate the word 'business' with 'greed' or 'evil'. There's plenty of good businesses out there that do what they do out of the love for the thing that they do and give back to the community. Nobody (unless you're a millionaire, struggling to figure out what to do with your fortune) can keep working a full-time job just purely for "something bigger" without any compensation. Yes, we have a presentation and strategy that we present to the potential partners. We'll keep you up to date with how things are going once we have something solid. You are right that "20 or 50 euro buy-in?" isn't the main question. However, since our members are asking us for buy-in leagues, I think it's fair to ask for some specifics of their expectations, don't you? It's no use creating buy-in leagues, if the specifics don't meet/exceed the members expectations.

First of all, thank you for opening up this discussion. It's always more productive to have an honest discussion than to make assumptions or go by rumours. I will do my best to cover my thoughts below and explain why we operate in the way we do. That is not to say that I think we are doing everything 100% correctly and there isn't room for improvement. Strap in and enjoy(?) the ride - wall of text incoming. Perspective Let me start off by saying that there is a large amount of different perspectives on the topics of how we should approach NHL as an esport, how quickly things have developed and how patient one should be. Our past experiences shape our minds and our ways of thinking and depending on your past, you might think my ideas and views are completely wrong, if they don't resonate with what you believe. If you know my history, heard my interview on the radio, or read about it in our recent article, you might know that I have been in the NHL gaming scene for roughly 18 years now. I've played hockey games since the 8-bit Nintendo, but what I mean about being in the scene, is that I've been in close contact with a lot of people committed to NHL-gaming lifestyle, seen the way the NHL-series producers have interacted with the community and where feedback has and hasn't been listened to. Why do I bring this up? Certainly not to brag about my age - I would much rather prefer to be a kid again - but to offer some perspective on from where we are building this. In the 18 years I've been active in the NHL community, this is easily the closest we've been to seeing the NHL video game as an actual esport. But why hasn't it happen before? Is it because people didn't want to? Is it because the people didn't put in the work? In my opinion, no - it's because the time wasn't right. I'm sure more than a few companies threw a bunch of money on a wall, but it didn't quite stick. Against this background, when looking at what NHLGamer has achieved in less than three years, I can proudly say we (the community) have created something wonderful together, something that can, and will, actually stick. From day one, I have wanted to offer paid leagues, but in my opinion the community wasn't ready for it. Now it is. When thinking about how much can be achieved in a set amount of time, one must also think about how much time can actually be allocated to the task. I worked a very demanding job throughout most of the development of NHLGamer and the ECL, so when I would come home from work, I would spend most of my free time - and often the hours I should've used for sleeping - on working on this website. The same thing applies to the other staff members, who I respect and appreciate immensely for helping out after a long day or week. This is also the reason why most people overestimate the amount of work they're able to chip in with. That's why we've seen a big change in staff over the years. It's time consuming and demanding. Roughly a year ago I decided to quit my job in Malta. It was a good job, good pay, but it was getting between my passion and me. So I quit. In order for NHLGamer to be able to operate, I have - for the past few months - been focusing all of my time and energy on giving NHLGamer and the NHL video game a chance as an esport and there's no turning back for me. If I go back to a regular day job, there is no way I can keep doing what I've been doing recently. Why am I telling you this awfully long story? Because I want you to understand my background and that I really do share the enthusiasm to want to introduce money to NHLGamer and NHL as an esport just as much as many of you do. I've put my heart and soul into the NHL community for 18 years now and NHL gaming is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves. There is no way we're stopping now. Vision Max (@gzell60) explained above quite well what we want to achieve. And before I go into that, let me point out that Max and I (and the rest of the team) don't agree about everything. No, it doesn't mean that we argue and fight - it simply means that we have different views on how certain things should go. So we discuss them together, as a team and eventually it forms a product. Why did I bring this up? Well, for example Max doesn't like the idea of buy-in's as much as I do and I agree with him, that it is easily an approach that creates a closed community and shuts people and teams out. Not everyone wants it. This is why I'm happy to do buy-ins, but it shouldn't be the only thing driving our leagues, as I think it's a quite short-sighted attempt at happiness. You don't need season previews, interviews, stats, streams or any of that to run a buy-in league. But to produce a product that is interesting and approachable to a crowd that isn't necessarily even playing the game themselves - that's where content and the love that we have for the ECL comes in handy. We don't have to fake it, we don't have to do magic tricks. We do however, have to work hard and I know we have in the recent months. We are extremely proud to have signed a two year contract on the Finnish Championship license - called eSM - for NHL and FIFA. We just announced it tonight and you can read our story here: This is an amazing thing for our community and our plans to keep developing the sport and teaching the world about 6vs6. I want to to underline here that the focus is not off ECL. On the contrary, we are talking to potential partners for ECL 7 and about introducing prizes and live finals. So please don't think that we are only planning to cater for the Finnish community. We realize that sadly, not everyone can take part in the Finnish championships, but we are continuously working on different initiatives that will either be something for everybody, or for example for Sweden and other countries, who might feel left out. Keep in mind, our staff is from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Britain and France. There's plenty of people internally who want to see things happen in their home country, so rest assured this is an international mission. With eSM 2018 for FIFA taking place already in the summer, it makes sense to talk about it now. Similarly, you will see a lot of Summer Cup communication in the upcoming weeks and months. The communication moving from the ECL to another subject in no way reflects on our work ethic, passion and drive to set up an amazing ECL 7 for NHL 19, but we are also extremely proud of the Summer Cup and the eSM license and they will take the spotlight from time to time, as they should. "But do you realize how annoying it is to not know what is going to happen? Why don't you just tell us everything?" When I think about it, yes. Sometimes it's hard to remember that the community doesn't know what we're up to. Most of the time, actually. So why do I or we do it? Why don't we just tell you every detail about our plans? Well, there's several reasons, but from a customer service perspective and as a general rule in life, I have the mentality of "under-promise, over-deliver" which is a good recipe for pleasant surprises. I've not always been good at this, but that's beyond the point. I don't want to tell you something that I don't know is going to happen. I don't want to promise you something and then have to let you down. That is also why donations weren't introduced to the site early on, even when people suggested it; I wanted to prove that we are worthy of it. Another big reason for being secretive or quiet about things is that until documents are signed and things are made official, negotiations are simply negotiations. It doesn't really matter how close we were to the biggest successful event ever, if it doesn't actually happen. We would rather surprise you positively, than to get your hopes up and then deliver half of what we expected to. Not to mention that it would be super unprofessional to give out information before it's been agreed to, between all parties. In some cases, if you disclose information you were not allowed to and you've signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), you could have to pay a large amount for a breach of contract. Not to mention that they would never work with you again. All of the above being said, I do understand getting impatient and worried when nothing is communicated. We will do our best to improve on communication and the ability to share at least something. Feel free to reach out and ask, if that feeling sneaks in. "Umm.. yeah, great, but what about those of us who don't want to play for money?" There's plenty of people that want to play just for fun and don't want to stress over money and we understand that very well. Worry not. We plan to always offer free to play leagues and tournaments. "What about legal issues?" We plan to do everything by the book and follow the law. It is very short-sighted to plan anything else but a legitimate and legal way to handle the money. Taxes will be paid. Remember, this is simply a stepping stone towards professionalism - not a quick cash-grab. Questions from me to you So, the beauty of this community is that we have a lot of great minds with a shared passion for the game. We agree on many things and we have other opinions on other things. Let's use this thread to discuss your hopes, dreams and expectations. I'll start off with a few questions off the top of my head, based on the discussion above. For the sake of the clarity, I will use the term buy-in league, indicating that the teams or players were to pay for entry. NOTE: The below are hypothetical questions and the questions in themselves are in no way a statement to what we will or won't do in the future. Would you join a buy-in league? How much would you be ready to pay for being part of a buy-in league? Would you expect to win this league and regain the money or the full prize? What sort of sum would be acceptable as the prize in the first season of the buy-in league? How would you expect the prize pool to be split between the teams in the league? How long of a season would you expect in a buy-in league? How often would you participate in a buy-in league? If the league was separate from the ECL, would you then prioritize it over the ECL? Do you think ECL should be a buy-in league? Do you think certain divisions should be buy-in, such as ECL Elite? Hypothetically, say ECL Elite and Pro had buy-ins - what would stop an Elite caliber team for signing up for Pro in order to get "an easy" tournament win and prize money? If you are against buy-ins or on the fence about the topic - what would be a small enough amount for you to join and still be able to have fun? That's just a few questions that come to mind around the subject. Feel free to come up with more. If you had the energy to read through the whole thing - thank you! I will return the favor. TL;DR: Money leagues are coming, but we are also not forgetting about members who don't want to play for money. Please discuss your expectations, so we can do our best to exceed them. Together we are strong. ⚔️

If you leave the roster, you are not part of the team anymore.

And the broadcast just got even better, as we're covering three matchups!

Commentary team has changed. It will be yours truly and @esdor.

We appreciate all the support with the streams and sharing the streams with as big an audience as possible. This will help us make these things bigger and better in the future. #BringYourGrandmaAndNeighbours

Well done everyone! Not surprised one bit. Can't wait to see one of you guys take home the whole thing!

Whoop whoop! I'm in. And let's not forget the reigning champions:

Interesting way of boosting your backup's confidence.

Whoopsie! Thanks!