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Poaching a Major Issue for Riot in LCS
CLG’s second poaching offense brings to light an emerging problem in professional LoL.
CLG’s Doublelift
© LoL eSports
Having already levied a $10,000 fine against CLG — the largest fine in League of Legends history — in December, Riot has again fined CLG for poaching. The organization was fined $2,000 while team ADC Doublelift was fined $2,500 for his involvement.
CLG received a reduced fine the second time for approaching Riot with a mea culpa concerning another poaching violation related to the first offense. However, these two rulings — along with other allegations of teams soliciting contracted players — has proved it’s a very real issue in pro LoL. And it's one that might not be entirely addressed by Riot’s current poaching rules.
The Poaching Rule
Riot’s requires all players in the LCS to have a written contract with the team they're on. Most (if not all) contracts extend through the conclusion of Worlds, meaning that players have a limited window from the end of a season to the beginning of another to explore their options with other teams.
10.2.12 No Poaching or Tampering. No Team Member or Affiliate of a team may solicit, lure, or make an offer of employment to any Team Member who is signed to any LCS team, nor encourage any such Team Member to breach or otherwise terminate a contract with said LCS team…
Dignitas faces CLG in the 2014 Summer Playoffs
© LoL eSports
Players are allowed to enter talks with other teams if given permission from their organization, but beyond this any discussion with other teams regarding future placement is expressly forbidden.
This was the issue that CLG ran into (or ignored) when it approached two Team Dignitas players (Scarra and ZionSpartan) following both teams’ failure to qualify for Worlds. Though Dignitas players were done playing for the season, CLG was not allowed to discuss potential moves without the permission of Dignitas management.
Discouraging Poaching
In the past, most fines and punishments levied on LCS players came as a result of toxic or unsavory behavior. These poaching violations have shown that Riot likely will face an increasing amount of issues faced in other professional sports. Indeed, in Korea where eSports have a longer established presence, organizations have been involved in fixing games, gambling and other serious problems.
The large fine CLG received was a fantastic move by Riot; it publicized the issue while clearly showing that the company has zero tolerance for poaching. The NFL followed a similar pattern after introducing its crown-of-the-helmet hits rule, levying huge fines on offenders without restraint.
ZionSpartan with Team Dignitas
© LoL eSports
“Tampering with players on opposing teams can incentivize extremely toxic dynamics (e.g. players deliberately playing poorly to “force” their organization to release them),” Riot’s Head of eSports Nick Allen wrote regarding the $10,000 fine.
As other sports have shown, established rules and punishments are no guarantee against offenses, especially when picking up a star player can have such a high payoff. CLG’s violation was brazen and almost foolhardy — clearly not an attempt to find a loophole or otherwise supersede the rule. However, as League continues to gain popularity, funding and sponsors, more sophisticated attempts at poaching seem inevitable.
While Riot’s zero-tolerance approach to the matter might discourage some teams from soliciting contracted talent, it does little to address the main source of the issue — the limited time window players have to change contracts and the downtime they face if their teams fail to qualify for Worlds.
A Budding Problem
Riot’s rules regarding free agency are intended to “promote team continuity, prevent last-minute roster changes which damage team identity and cohesion, protect LCS tournament integrity and enhance fan enjoyment of LCS tournament play.” A subset of the same rule outlines a window between January and March during which free agents can sign with a new team.
This window is problematic for two reasons: It begins months after many teams have stopped playing and it might be too small for some teams and players to fully explore their options. If teams want to fill out their rosters before the season starts, this only gives them a small window between contracts ending and the mid-January signing date.
Scarra (right) will now coach for CLG
© LoL eSports
CLG Coach Scarra tweeted after his team’s violations, “I'm pretty sure Riot is going to establish a 1 month grace period before the contract ends next year where you can talk to others.”
This grace period would go a long way in allowing players to discuss their future without bringing fines and punishments down on teams they are speaking with. After teams have been eliminated from the month-long Worlds tourney, expecting them to sit on their hands and wait for contracts to run out makes sense — teams still in the tourney would be at a recruiting disadvantage. Team Dignitas Manager Michael "Odee" O'Dell said of his poached players, “If there’s a rule, stick to the rule.”
However, if new rules aren’t enacted to address the issue of contractual downtime, Riot can expect a lot more poaching in the future — poaching that likely won’t be as obvious as CLG’s.
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