Incredible Miracle have been wearing the LG logo without receiving any compensation for it, report This is Game. According to the source, LG have been delaying the renewal of the contract, despite confirming it, only to say said renewal will be impossible this April.
The story of the debacle dates back to October 2012 when the sponsorship deal between LG and IM came to an end but the Korean team did not get the money it was owed from the tech giant. As a result, IM head coack Kang Dong Hoon was forced to operate the team with his own expenses as well as with money coming in from sub-sponsors. To help resolve the issue of non-payment, the Korean eSports governing body KeSPA was called in to investigate, hear both sides of the story and mend the problem.
Following those events, LG and IM got together to negotiate a re-sign on their contract and according to TIG, a virtual agreement was reached on a new deal proposed by LG. As a result, IM continued competing under the LG tag, participated in shared activities and declined offers from other sponsors.
According to LG, in December 2012 towards the end of the agreed two-month negotiation period, the company had stated that a renewal of the contract with IM would be problematic. IM's problem, however, lays with the fact that LG had repeatedly confiend the contract during this period and only fully rejected it in April 2013, full four months after the end of the negotiation period, and that they still haven't received compensation for promoting LG's brand. In response to KeSPA's attempt for arbitration, LG have offered a promise for events with $10,000 in prizes.
"We won't just watch if they [LG] become a company exploits young players," commented KeSPA president Jeon Beong Heon. Currently, Incredible Miracle is among the most popular Korean progaming team, hosting 11 StarCraft 2 games as well as two League of Legends teams.
Source: Thisisgame.com via Team Liquid
