Trouble didn't take long to arrive at TSM. Overnight, during a Doublelift stream, organization president Leena was heard discussing the market value of one of her players. In this case Dardoch, which TSM would like to part with but does not find favor with any other North American franchise.
A quick summary of the situation if you missed a few steps in the TSM saga, which would make your evening soap opera look like an episode of Scooby-Doo.
Less than a month ago, Team Liquid sought to change its carry ad and separate from Doublelift. He is eventually sent to TSM. First problem, Doublelift is currently in a relationship with Leena, the president and esports manager of TSM. Conflicts of interest seem inevitable, and many voices are rising in the community asking Riot to intervene.
The LCS teams take charge of the file and after investigation, accept the player's trade to TSM. No element at their disposal makes it possible to highlight a prohibited behavior. TSM fans are over the moon. But of course, the story does not end there. And as expected, the specter of conflict of interest resurfaced very quickly.
The clip of discord
Last night, Doublelift streamed solos as usual. So far nothing extraordinary, but at one point we can hear Leena talking about Dardoch and his lack of attractiveness to other teams. (Do not hesitate to raise the volume a little bit to enjoy it)
It's not up to me. No one wants Dardoch back.
Leena, President of TSMMany things to exploit in such a short extract, but two major information to remember:
1 – The President of TSM communicates openly about organizational negotiations and discussions in front of another player. And in particular the contracts of his teammates.
2 – The market value of Dardoch, leaving from TSM, is close to 0.
Obviously, as soon as this extract was discovered, it caused a scandal in the community. And rightly so. The leaders of TSM who were quick to cry conspiracy when certain people dared to worry about possible conflicts of interest during the recruitment of Doublelift have their backs to the wall.
Where things get even more crunchy is when Leena tries to give context to the clip. Explaining that if this exchange was heard, it is because Doublelift is streaming on a new PC from a sponsor, and that the noise gate is not set correctly. Come on, we're sending a little collateral damage to the sponsor who will certainly be delighted. And we are careful not to respond to the real problems.
The TSM model undermined
Because the concern here is not that a player learns before another a movement within the same workforce. This is commonplace, whether in sports or esports. But rather the ease with which the leaders of TSM communicate contractual information, supposed to be confidential, while seeing no problem there.
And this situation becomes in a fraction of a second a symbol of the management which flirts between oligarchy and amateurism at TSM. As such, it is worth remembering that Bjergsen, the team's midlaner for years, is now part owner of the structure.
So what next for Dardoch now that his adventure at TSM is coming to an end? His market value is now non-existent, since it is publicly admitted that no team wants to recruit him. A franchise will never pay to secure the services of such a player, and his career seems to be heading straight into the wall.
In a perfect world, he would still have hope that the Players Association would step in and come up and defend his case. Only small problem, we find in this association Bjergsen and Doublelift who sit there as vice-presidents. But also Biofrost, support of TSM. No doubt the three players will defend the interests of Dardoch and bring to light all the wrongs of their organization.
As for direct intervention from Riot Games? It seems unlikely, as the publisher has a history of laxity towards TSM.
