Esports Player Unionization Depends on Players, Says LoL Legend Snoopeh
*By Zane Bhansali and Chris Jalandoni*
TSM’s Fortnite pro Ali "Myth" Kabbani ignited a conversation last month about esports player unions when he suggested he might start one for the Fortnite community. But esports unions were on the mind of Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis long before Kabbani pushed them into gamers' consciousness.
A League of Legends World Championship semi-finalist, Snoopeh first proposed the concept of esports player unions in 2014 after retiring from competitive play. In a Reddit discussion that year, Snoopeh commented that he was “currently deliberating the formation of a player union to help standardize contracts and create transparency between players and teams.”
But Snoopeh later amended his comment, rephrasing union as “player association.” A year later, he shifted his position again, saying that while he thought unions “may be necessary down the road, we are not at that point yet” due to cost and legal complexity.
Today, Snoopeh stands by that judgment. On the topic of Myth’s hypothetical union, Snoopeh said one of the main obstacles to creating a Fortnite union is the relatively small scale of the game's professional player base ー especially measured against its massive casual player base.
“If you’re Epic Games, why do you necessarily want to cater to a small fraction of your player base when you’ve got this $3 billion a year revenue to cater to?” Snoopeh asked during an interview with Cheddar Sports.
In his view, the players themselves are the biggest barriers to unionization. “One of the things that would be super important in a union is getting the players to fund the member dues,” he said. “None of the players necessarily want to part with any cash.”
That attitude is emblematic of the gaps in the still-growing esports industry. “As recently as this year, we’ve got players that are still not getting to look at contracts,” Snoopeh said. “There’s a huge lack of education and awareness amongst players in the importance of taking their career seriously.”
To that end, Snoopeh started the “Player Resource Center” in partnership with attorney Bryce Blum in 2016 to educate players on legal issues and health insurance.
For him, a union isn’t possible until that basic foundation is laid ー and players realize its importance.
“I think ultimately the responsibility is on the players,” he said. “Esports is still \[new\], even though it’s been around 20, 30 years ー it’s still a really young ecosystem. If you look at other successful unions in different sports, the players running those were playing for decades. We don’t have that history or that longevity yet in esports.”
Americans placing bets on the Super Bowl is expected to reach a record high due to multiple states legalizing sports gambling. Hana Ostapchuk, the host of Cheddar Bets, joined Baker Machado on Between Bells to discuss the action on the Big Game.
trivago reported its last earnings of 2021 yesterday, marking the end of a rollercoaster year. The online hotel search site was forced to cut costs during the pandemic as the travel industry shut down entirely, instead pivoting its strategy to meet customer demand in other ways. Matthias Tillmann, CFO of trivago, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the company's results and why he's optimistic about the future of the travel industry in 2022.
The Winter Olympics showcase our favorite and most picturesque winter sports: from ski jumping, to figure skating, to ice hockey. But don't forget about doubles luge, the internet's favorite Olympic sport. Join us as we explore the history of this intimate display and reveal why doubles luge is so much more than a meme.
Youth sports coaching service MOJO has partnered with Major League Baseball, named the "trusted grassroots coaching app" of the MLB. The app provides content for parents and coaches to help young players grow their skills. Ben Sherwood, founder & CEO of MOJO joined Cheddar News to talk about how his app works to improve coaching to keep players interested. "The number one reason that kids drop out of sports and all of the surveys is that sports aren't fun, and one of the big reasons that sports aren't fun is that the coach doesn't know what she or he is doing," he said. "We think there's a great coach in everyone, and we just have to have the right resources and tools and inspiration."
The U.S. women's hockey team came up short in its highly anticipated game against the Canadian women, favorites for gold, in the preliminaries of the Winter Olympics tournament. The competition now enters the medal rounds where the U.S. team still has a shot.
After a seven-year hiatus, Nissan is returning to the Super Bowl action-packed, star-studded commercial. Allyson Witherspoon, Nissan's Chief Marketing Officer, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the concept of the ad campaign and how it gives clues into where the brand is heading next.
'Pixstory' is an integrity-based social media platform providing a space for healthy dialogue. It was designed to fight misinformation, hate speech, and other forms of toxicity. NBA champion and Pixstory brand ambassador, Dwight Howard, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Chris Spagnuolo, VP of Content, Champion Gaming, joins Cheddar Bets to break down the lessons learned from betting the NFL this season, and how to make money next season.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Sean Green, Co-Founder, of the Sports Gambling Podcast Network, joins Cheddar Bets to discuss betting on the Big Game, and when to wait it out to buy the lines low.
Sponsored by BetMGM
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
