tapir wrote:HermanHiddema wrote:
The sponsor decides to spend a lot of money to organize an event. They make certain choices, set some criteria, on how that money will be spent. That is their choice, and their right.
I am pretty sure there would have been a major outrage in the EGF, and I repeat rightly so, if the EGF had accepted the sponsor criteria of setting up a team of EU members only without somehow turning it into a de facto EGF team.
The sponsor did not set a criterium of "EU members", they wanted a single country. With a flag and an anthem. They allowed the EGF to use the EU as a body because it has those things. I think that was a wonderful idea by the EGF, and I wonder if this is the first time that an EU team is being fielded in a major international competition.
Anyway, it seems that pretty much any decision the EGF could have made would be met with outrage by someone. After all, in this very thread, Javaness said:
"I find there to be something distasteful about an EU team. This is pretty silly in an international event which is supposed to be between countries. Canadians playing for the USA, what the heck is that?"Personally, I would also have been fine with a decision to, say, send a Russian team. They won the European Team Championship this year, after all, and they can most certainly field a very strong team.
Similarly, I would have been fine if the EGF had decided to hold a separate country team competition as a qualifier for this event.
Nobody complained about the sponsor having choices, setting criteria. But unlike the tendency of L19ers to limit themselves to clapping, the EGF representatives did bargain, did argue and put forward their preferences. If the EGF representatives had done as advised by you or JF, there would have been no European team, right?
I think there is an important difference between respectful negotiations with a sponsor and the kind of vitriol that is being spewed in this thread.
Such negotiations are normal, and expected. The sponsor has certain goals and expectations, and they try to maximize the value they get for their money. Similarly, the IGF and EGF have goals and expectations, and try to maximize the value that the event provides them. You give some, you take some, and you try to keep everybody happy.
My advice to the EGF would most certainly not have been: "Keep your mouth shut and be happy with any money you get". But I would most certainly have advised them to be respectful of the wishes of the sponsor, and to work with the sponsor closely in maximizing value for all parties. And I'm sure that's what they did.
