On the 1st of November this year, Vitriolic announced that they have to release their players. Ahmed 'Nordy' Al Muhanna was the director of Vitriolic, and he was the person who gave the statement. As the director, he was the one holding the money. Vitriolic gained the attention of the media and the whole community earlier this year by recruiting the famous ‘Golden Five’ including Neo and co. from Poland. The news of this disbandment wouldn’t be interesting if it weren’t for two important problems. Firstly, the Poles have lost their team for the third time during the last 365 days. Secondly, it exposed why players should not depend on their sponsors.

Let’s try to focus on the first problem that has risen. For the last few months, or to be more precise, since the global financial crisis started, the vast majority of teams have had troubles keeping or conciliating sponsors. This has led to massive roster changes inside big teams like SK Gaming and Meet Your Makers (to just name the two biggest), which I personally see as really good examples. In fact, the financial crisis is a pretty good maxim that fits every announcement which is released together with team disbandment.

SK Gaming - not affected by the crisis?

The second problem looks merely the same as the first one: Sponsors - or the lack thereof. If the world’s top 10 teams are having hard times finding new teams with companies that want to put money into them must mean something. In Warcraft 3 this is even a bigger issue then in the CS world. And even though I’ve heard from the owner of Pink Zinic that the financial crisis really exists and plays a role in these decisions, I turn to SK Gaming and see that nothing has changed there - at least for people that don't have an inside view. Even though they lost some of their supporters, at the same time they’ve managed to get new ones and sign contracts on presumably even better terms. Although I’ve heard they are not paying their staff and players lately (which might have created some player changes - hello zet), SK Gaming seems still to be the only big brand in the Western eSports world that wasn’t hit by the crisis as hard as other organizations.

The thing that is actually much scarier than the crisis itself is the lack of proper attitude and professionalism shown by some players. Think realistic, if you put money into a world top team, send them over to Dubai and see their poor performance, are you still ready to pull money out of your pocket to see more of the same? I guess not. It’s not of paramount importance for professional teams only and I suggest semi-pros to have a look as well. If you can’t perform well (and you didn’t secure yourself with proper contracts) you will lose the support sooner or later. It’s inevitable. And don't get me wrong, yes, everyone can have a bad day.

Don’t sting your golden duck

You can’t flatter yourself. To present things which are not true to people you want to get financial support from is wrong. Bear in mind that team websites are giving you profits. The same story goes lately with popular community-based websites like Twitter, Facebook or Youtube. Try to be reasonable and don’t sting your golden duck because it might lose its entire worth in no time.
I’ll present you my theory on how this should work. When you’ve created a team which is better than average, the roster is very solid and you’re able to pull out some nice games against top teams, it’s the time for you to think about getting sponsorships. First of all, gather money and create a decent website. Yes, your money input is needed. Then play under this tag for some time. Make people to remember the name of the team - do branding and give the 'tag' a tradition (something SK has done very well).

When you’re done with that, now it’s time to create a presentation with goals, short history, and an achievements list and what’s more important, the benefits that potential sponsors might get after signing a deal with you. From these simple beginnings you’re set to go. One question may arise here: did Vitriolic have those goals? Did they really know what they want to do with that team - except sending it to events?

Can we still trust organisations?

I know the community has been dwelling on this subject for many years now, but still people don’t get the idea of making a team with sponsors and reaching the top. Before you’ll be famous you have to put hard work in it and if there is nobody to help you with making this dream come true, you should do it by yourself but don't rush it, things take time.

I really don’t want to slight the guys from ex-Vitriolic because here in Poland they are the icons of eSport but shouldn't they consider better before they join a team or even better: create a new one just like Pink Zinic did. Get sponsors by yourself and once again become the best team in the world. It requires a little bit of dedication and hard work but in the end it might be the solution. Don’t be reluctant and more importantly don’t be passive. If there is something in this world that you want to have, try your best to grab it and don’t let it go. But of course, there still are organisations that are trust worthy, but they have become rare.