Remember a month ago or so we wrote about the behind the scenes battle going on between Kespa and Blizzard. Back then, in order to go around Kespa and it's broadcasting partners MBC and OGN, Blizzard started sponsoring GOM with a general idea to bring all StarCraft 2 events on GOM, with SCBW, Warcraft III and WoW tournaments already being broadcast via means of GOM.
Well, you can wave goodbye to GOM StarCraft matches. Super Daniel Man posted this on his twitter page:
SuperDanielMan:
As of now I can safely say there won't be any more GOMTV leagues with Progamers in it.
Well, to make the long story short, under kespa there are 12 teams and most of them decided not to participate.
As of now I can safely say there won't be any more GOMTV leagues with Progamers in it.
Well, to make the long story short, under kespa there are 12 teams and most of them decided not to participate.
Now for the interesting part. Under exactly the same circumstances all current Progamers can and probably will be forbidden to participate in any televised StarCraft II matches, unless they are willing to leave their team(s), therefore breaking ties with Kespa and losing the Progamer status altogether.
A second, although quite outdated, punch from Kespa comes in a way that JulyZerg was forbidden, by his team STX, to go to Blizzcon, as STX is in close ties with Kespa, being one of the most popular teams and the host of their own tournament STX Masters Cup.
Although the situation gets more and more complicated, the goals are quite clear. Blizzard wants more money, much more, royalties from every single commercial broadcast, OGN and MBC clearly don't want to pay, as StarCraft is simply the most watched sport in Korea, especially among young adults, the most profitable and expensive ratings group of them all. Kespa, on the other hand, wants to keep control over the whole scene.
Your initial position might be all in favor of Blizzard, but, don't forget, that Kespa built what is now a StarCraft scene, made deals with broadcasters, to provide tv coverage, formed a ruling board over the whole thing, giving the teams decision making powers, made financial deals with professional map makers and a lot more.
Links
Teamliquid - (Source)
SuperDanielMan - Twitter
