Burden United, 4 Clovers and Lepricon and London Conspiracy were invited to attend DOT.Fair – a LAN tournament featuring $15,000 cash prizes, scheduled to take place between June 18-21, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The organizers have decided to pull the plug on the event, leaving the teams to foot the bill.
Contacted by DotaBlast, DOT.Fair organizers, Amprenta Advertising, have confirmed the cancellation, blaming their decision on their main sponsor’s last minute withdrawal and hinting that the event was no longer sustainable, due to low ticket sales. DOT.Fair’s main sponsor, EBS Romania, has denied the claims. The low ticket sales come as no surprise, since DOT.Fair organizers have never released the names of the attending teams.
As the axe fell merely two weeks before the kick-off date, the bulk of the expenses – including visa and travel costs, had already been taken care of by the teams, who were promised to be reimbursed.
London Conspiracy
On top of adjusting their entire schedule, London Conspiracy have exchanged their MLG Pro League return flights and booked a Nis-Belgrade bus and six train tickets to Cluj-Napoca.
DotaBlast asked DOT.Fair’s organizers whether they will reimburse the team. They offered a vague answer: “We will take it into consideration”.
Burden United were supposed to make the trip to Cluj-Napoca directly from Jönköping, Sweden, where they will attend Dreamhack Summer. Since the DOT.Fair organizers offered to take care of flight tickets from Jönköping to Romania, the team has refused the return flights provided by the Dreamhack staff. Left with no return flights from Jönköping after DOT.Fair’s cancellation, Burden United have to find ways to deal with the situation themselves.
Asked how they plan to address the issue, DOT.Fair organizers answered: “We are sorry for the inconvenience. We will take it into consideration.”
Comewithme
Burden United’s Alexandru “Comewithme” Crăciunescu told DotaBlast:
We don’t appreciate having our time wasted. That annoys us a lot more than the flights mix-up.
VANSKOR
Fortunately, 4 Clovers and Lepricon were among the least affected, having spent only approximately $150 on Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod’s visa. Amprenta Advertising claim that the visa expenses will be reimbursed.
Originally, Amprenta Advertising approached Esports Addicts and asked them to negotiate with the teams on their behalf and get approval for an in-game ticket. Esports Addicts have decided to pull back because the organizers’ behavior raised suspicion, as they kept delaying signing of contracts.
More and more tournament organizers ignore the ramifications of poor planning and cutting corners. This approach ruins the overall credibility of the Dota 2 scene, turning away teams, sponsors and viewers. London Conspiracy‘s team manager, Cristi “Omicron” Duca, weighs in:
Those kind of practices are detrimental to the entire scene. Teams that get affected might decline invitations from some other GENUINE tournament organizers. This is bad because, as a tier 2 tournament organizer, you are dependent on the teams that are participating. If teams decline your invitations, your numbers will be worse and you will turn away sponsors.
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