The players of Cloud9, CLG, Immortals, Team Liquid and TSM have signed an open letter to protest the PEA team owners decision not to compete in the ESL Pro League next season.
The open letter was released by SirScoots who was selected as the representative of the 25 affected players.
According to the letter, players have been denied the right to choose where they compete and the PEA and team owners intend to prevent the players from playing in ESL Pro League.
Taken from the letter:
“The same week as IEM Oakland, we started seeing more serious reasons for concern about what the PEA was doing. We started hearing rumors that some of us were about to be told we would have to withdraw from the next season of ESL Pro League. We also heard rumors that the PEA and EPL actually had no active or ongoing discussions to ensure that they wouldn’t conflict with each other. This was contrary to what we had been told back in September and October, and it was at this point that we realized we needed help.”
“A few of us reached out to Scott “SirScoots” Smith, who has been a valuable friend and mentor to many of us over the years. He was happy to help, and was pretty quickly able to confirm that the PEA and EPL hadn’t really talked about working together to make sure there wouldn’t be issues. From what we heard, it seemed that EPL welcomed the discussion, but the PEA was not interested in talking. We decided to ask Scott to represent us more formally in approaching the PEA and our team owners about the situation, and thankfully he accepted. Scott has been in esports for 16 years and has been a consistent advocate for professional Counter-Strike players in that time. He’s outspoken and critical in all directions, and also has experience as a team owner, so we felt he would be a great central voice for us to work through. He now represents all of the 25 players who signed this letter in discussions with the PEA and our team owners, and we hope that our friends from NRG and CompLexity will turn 25 into 35 after they read this.”
“Thank you all for taking the time to read this letter. If you understand where we’re coming from, and you want to help, the best way to do so is to speak out. Contact the PEA and our team owners — let them know how you feel. Tell your friends and colleagues about what’s going on, and be vocal on Twitter and other social media outlets. If you’re a professional player, whether you’re on a PEA team or not, and whether you play Counter-Strike or any other game: get in touch with us by sending Scott an email. We’d love to add you to the conversation.”
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