Hey all,

I recently posted this video here:

And it caused a lot of discussion when the Commissioner responded on Twitter seemingly disputing some of my video. I’ve posted a response on reddit, but I wanted to repost it here because reddit rules prevent me from linking to it directly on twitter and elsewhere. Full post goes as follows:

I'm seeing a lot of folks making personal attacks on me or suggesting I (for some reason) concocted a whole big scheme for views, but I'd ask everyone to do a little critical analysis here.

Going bit by bit:

LCS teams can’t vote away Academy requirements

I'm not sure why he's leading with this, as it's something I mention in the video specifically. He's presenting a challenge to a point I never made.

Multiple owners have confirmed for me that no vote actually took place.

I personally feel he's playing semantics here, as my sources have told me Greeley told team staff in a meeting earlier this week that owners had agreed that they wanted the academy requirements lifted and I trust them. I am unsure on if each team owner went through, filled out a ballot, or did a hand raise. What I am confident on is that the LCS teams have collectively agreed to push Greeley to remove this requirement. He somewhat addressed this in a follow up tweet to me (not listed in OP's post at this time):

Owners have not asked us to remove Academy. In exploration we’ve kicked around a lot of formats including some (like combining Academy and amateur into a bigger Proving Grounds world) where fielding an Academy team could be optional. Like I said, we’re VERY early in exploration.

He does not say remove the Academy team requirement, just that they haven't asked to remove "ACADEMY," acknowledging that some of the formats they're exploring could involve making an Academy team optional. I am sure that it -is- early days on what that system could look like (because how does Academy work if not all LCS teams participate?), but even the Players Association acknwoledged to me that "Recent reports and our own conversations with team owners and operators have indicated that at least some teams will pursue measures that reduce or remove costs associated with Academy system. Some teams have specifically proposed making academy options for LCS teams."

I personally really like Chris Greeley and have only had good interactions with him individually and when he's chosen to sit down with me in the past. I'm disappointed that I'm now put in a situation where he and I have to have these discussions across twitter and reddit. Unfortunately, I think the reaction to the import rule conversation has driven him to be far less transparent about this type of stuff, and we're seeing that here. If he wanted to clarify what was happening, he could have when I reached out directly to Riot about this story last month. He also could have taken the question I pre-submited days before his press conference (via their new media standards defying practice).

In both situations, he avoided the conversation. Instead, we're left arguing semantics on twitter which seems to be a similar comms strategy that he employed when he said:

“I will tell you that I have had an awful lot of conversations with LCS teams. I don’t think anyone; maybe one team. But, I really don’t think anyone is advocating for the repeal of the import rule. It’s just not happening.”

Which seems like an interesting way of characterizing what happens in this video.

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P.S. I wrote the above and almost posted it alone, but I've seen what reddit likes to do in these moments where two public people are posting different accounts of a situation and I'd just politely ask people not to shit on Greeley. I am annoyed with the way he's chosen to handle this, but I also recognize the tough circumstances he's in. He needs to maintain the reputation of the LCS, while also balancing the demands of owners who are looking to cut costs via unpopular methods. In some situations, you have owners asking for changes that may literally run counter to some of their external or internal messaging. Being commissioner is a thankless job, and so I'd rather people have a discussion about the information presented here rather than turning this into a TRAVIS VS GREELEY: WHO IS A TERRIBLE PERSON?

(Hint: it's me, the Riot shill who is in the pockets of owners and who has carelessly decided to make drama with both of those groups for VIEWS) xd