TL;DR - appearance fees not changing this season. Prize pool still 250k. Reevaluate for next year, talking with pros while they do so.
Well, you can't say wizards doesn't listen to player feedback. Will be interesting to see what changes they manage to come up with for the future as they discuss potential changes with the pros and such in question who would be affected by such changes as mentioned in the article.
If they are going to be cutting appearance fees they need to vastly increase the prize amounts. I don't think Wizards should be so quick to begin this, instead they really should have given much more warning. Now we have many pros under the gun, as Magic will no longer be able to support them. This very well could lead too a large abandonment of the game at the high levels, which would be incredibly hurtful, especially if these pros moved to Hearthstone.
I'm curious if MTG Pros could start getting better sponsorship deals. I've always wondered why SCGs, CFB, Ultra Pro, and the like aren't covering travel and hotel for the Pros on their respective teams. Why these Pro's aren't getting paid by their prospective sponsors has always seemed really strange to me. Tom Brady isn't getting paid by the NFL, it's the Patriots. LeBron James is getting paid by the Cavaliers, not the NBA. Why LSV, or Paul Cheon was getting paid by Wizards, and not CFB is beyond me. If we went towards the current Pro Sports model, maybe Pro's would be better able to just focus on Magic, due to being employees of a company, rather than hoping to win events to pay for magic. Give them some sort of salary, incentives to do well, and of course the WotC supplied prizes. This would better allow them to really focus on MTG, rather than having to get an actual day job.
Now in order to do this, sponsoring Pro teams would have to prove to be a good business move. This would required a much better coverage team of Pro Tours and, most likely, GPs. They would need this to help increase the number of viewers, thus increasing brand visibility. Maybe they could work something out with Twitch, along with other streaming sites. The NFL is going to start streaming on Twitter, maybe MTG could do the same. Pro players may be able to attain secondary sponsorships from larger companies like Coke, Monster, Redbull. It's not something Magic has looked into, probably due to WotC itself supporting it's players. In the long run we may even see an increase in pay for Pros. It'd be an interesting thing to see happen. Wizards really should have given more notice to hopefully let this kind of market develop. This kind of business deals take a time to mature, and I'm not sure it can be done on such a short notice.
Check twitter, lots of negative feedback, many people saying they are done.Watanabe, Strasky, Turtenwald, PVD, Huey, Sperling to name a few...
Where are the tweets saying they are done? Can't find a single one. Sure they are complaining about it (rightfully so) but I don't see a single "I am leaving this game" tweet.
Couldn't find tweets from Turtenwald or Heuy.
Also: Technically "GG pro magic, next game" is not the same as saying "I'm quieting". Also.. that was a retweet ._.
I'm curious if MTG Pros could start getting better sponsorship deals. I've always wondered why SCGs, CFB, Ultra Pro, and the like aren't covering travel and hotel for the Pros on their respective teams. Why these Pro's aren't getting paid by their prospective sponsors has always seemed really strange to me. Tom Brady isn't getting paid by the NFL, it's the Patriots. LeBron James is getting paid by the Cavaliers, not the NBA. Why LSV, or Paul Cheon was getting paid by Wizards, and not CFB is beyond me.
A number of reasons immediately come to mind. One is that teams on the NFL and NBA are far more 'rigid.' Players do change, but this isn't like SCG or CFB where you can just up and switch to another.
More importantly, what you just identified are team sports. Magic teams might work together to try to put together decks and such, but once the event begins it's everyone for themselves, and odds aren't unreasonable you'll end up playing against your supposed teammates. The members of the Patriots or Cavaliers don't go to an event and then compete against each other; they're all on the same team working together to take out the opposing team.
I'm curious if MTG Pros could start getting better sponsorship deals. I've always wondered why SCGs, CFB, Ultra Pro, and the like aren't covering travel and hotel for the Pros on their respective teams. Why these Pro's aren't getting paid by their prospective sponsors has always seemed really strange to me. Tom Brady isn't getting paid by the NFL, it's the Patriots. LeBron James is getting paid by the Cavaliers, not the NBA. Why LSV, or Paul Cheon was getting paid by Wizards, and not CFB is beyond me. If we went towards the current Pro Sports model, maybe Pro's would be better able to just focus on Magic, due to being employees of a company, rather than hoping to win events to pay for magic. Give them some sort of salary, incentives to do well, and of course the WotC supplied prizes. This would better allow them to really focus on MTG, rather than having to get an actual day job.
I've said this before here and in other forums. I think this is exactly what wizards is aiming for with their decision. When MTG was just beigining they needed to support "pros" so as to popularize the game (plus, some real interesting stuff about market bubbles and card prices, but thats a long story that not entirely relevant). But now the game is "well established", I think wizards was thinking exactly this. They know that CFB, SCG, TCGplayer, etc benefit from the existence of pro players. Because a "pro player" has credibility (based on their resultS) then we trust their opinions when they tell us decks X, Y, and Z are great, and get us to buy more cards. Pro players are real profitable to retailers, and retailers wont let that die off. Instead, I predict that these retailers will step in and cover the $$ wizards is no longer paying.
Summary: pro players are to retail stores like a goose that lays the golden eggs. Previously, someone else took care of the geese, and the retailers got a chunk of the benefits. Now, wizards are saying "look, we'll no longer foot the bill for these guys. If you think they are good for your business, then go ahead and pay them yourselves." And I'm pretty sure this is what'll happen. Time will tell.
I'm curious if MTG Pros could start getting better sponsorship deals. I've always wondered why SCGs, CFB, Ultra Pro, and the like aren't covering travel and hotel for the Pros on their respective teams. Why these Pro's aren't getting paid by their prospective sponsors has always seemed really strange to me. Tom Brady isn't getting paid by the NFL, it's the Patriots. LeBron James is getting paid by the Cavaliers, not the NBA. Why LSV, or Paul Cheon was getting paid by Wizards, and not CFB is beyond me.
A number of reasons immediately come to mind. One is that teams on the NFL and NBA are far more 'rigid.' Players do change, but this isn't like SCG or CFB where you can just up and switch to another.
More importantly, what you just identified are team sports. Magic teams might work together to try to put together decks and such, but once the event begins it's everyone for themselves, and odds aren't unreasonable you'll end up playing against your supposed teammates. The members of the Patriots or Cavaliers don't go to an event and then compete against each other; they're all on the same team working together to take out the opposing team.
Both fair points.
For the system to work sponsored teams would have to be, as you put it, rigid. There would need to be contracts and such in place to prevent team jumping. It may negatively effect the community feeling of high level magic, but it would also be kind of cool to see team rivalries start. On the second point, it is more of an issue. Teams could opt to put in incentives for both overall team performance and individual performance. Maybe have an end of the year prize for best team. It's an issue that would figured out correctly before attempting to move to such a system.
Well, you can't say wizards doesn't listen to player feedback. Will be interesting to see what changes they manage to come up with for the future as they discuss potential changes with the pros and such in question who would be affected by such changes as mentioned in the article.
I'm curious if MTG Pros could start getting better sponsorship deals. I've always wondered why SCGs, CFB, Ultra Pro, and the like aren't covering travel and hotel for the Pros on their respective teams. Why these Pro's aren't getting paid by their prospective sponsors has always seemed really strange to me. Tom Brady isn't getting paid by the NFL, it's the Patriots. LeBron James is getting paid by the Cavaliers, not the NBA. Why LSV, or Paul Cheon was getting paid by Wizards, and not CFB is beyond me. If we went towards the current Pro Sports model, maybe Pro's would be better able to just focus on Magic, due to being employees of a company, rather than hoping to win events to pay for magic. Give them some sort of salary, incentives to do well, and of course the WotC supplied prizes. This would better allow them to really focus on MTG, rather than having to get an actual day job.
Now in order to do this, sponsoring Pro teams would have to prove to be a good business move. This would required a much better coverage team of Pro Tours and, most likely, GPs. They would need this to help increase the number of viewers, thus increasing brand visibility. Maybe they could work something out with Twitch, along with other streaming sites. The NFL is going to start streaming on Twitter, maybe MTG could do the same. Pro players may be able to attain secondary sponsorships from larger companies like Coke, Monster, Redbull. It's not something Magic has looked into, probably due to WotC itself supporting it's players. In the long run we may even see an increase in pay for Pros. It'd be an interesting thing to see happen. Wizards really should have given more notice to hopefully let this kind of market develop. This kind of business deals take a time to mature, and I'm not sure it can be done on such a short notice.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
quit trolling fool.
More importantly, what you just identified are team sports. Magic teams might work together to try to put together decks and such, but once the event begins it's everyone for themselves, and odds aren't unreasonable you'll end up playing against your supposed teammates. The members of the Patriots or Cavaliers don't go to an event and then compete against each other; they're all on the same team working together to take out the opposing team.
I've said this before here and in other forums. I think this is exactly what wizards is aiming for with their decision. When MTG was just beigining they needed to support "pros" so as to popularize the game (plus, some real interesting stuff about market bubbles and card prices, but thats a long story that not entirely relevant). But now the game is "well established", I think wizards was thinking exactly this. They know that CFB, SCG, TCGplayer, etc benefit from the existence of pro players. Because a "pro player" has credibility (based on their resultS) then we trust their opinions when they tell us decks X, Y, and Z are great, and get us to buy more cards. Pro players are real profitable to retailers, and retailers wont let that die off. Instead, I predict that these retailers will step in and cover the $$ wizards is no longer paying.
Summary: pro players are to retail stores like a goose that lays the golden eggs. Previously, someone else took care of the geese, and the retailers got a chunk of the benefits. Now, wizards are saying "look, we'll no longer foot the bill for these guys. If you think they are good for your business, then go ahead and pay them yourselves." And I'm pretty sure this is what'll happen. Time will tell.
Both fair points.
For the system to work sponsored teams would have to be, as you put it, rigid. There would need to be contracts and such in place to prevent team jumping. It may negatively effect the community feeling of high level magic, but it would also be kind of cool to see team rivalries start. On the second point, it is more of an issue. Teams could opt to put in incentives for both overall team performance and individual performance. Maybe have an end of the year prize for best team. It's an issue that would figured out correctly before attempting to move to such a system.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
That reminds me about what players try in sanctioned matches of mtg.