B/R Weekly Rushdown: Mark Cuban on esports, Team Secret Drama

It was a slow, slow week in esports. The League World Championship continues to plug on, sure, and there were some fun announcements surrounding League of Legends' upcoming replays and the hype that built over Overwatch's Halloween event...but there wasn't the wall-to-wall wackiness we've seen in past weeks.

Of course, there were a few hard-hitting stories that came out. And here they are, in your latest Weekly Rushdown.

Team Secret Mired in Controversy

Team Secret, the squad best known for its European Dota 2 team, became embroiled in one of the ugliest scandals in Dota 2 history on Sunday when former carry player Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao released a lengthy, scathing blog post (warning: NSFW language) on the website of his own newly launched team, Team NP. 

In the post, EE makes a multitude of damning allegations against the organization. Most are financial, including that Secret shaved 10 percent of his winnings without his knowledge or consent, and that he and other former Secret players are owed significant amounts of money by the team. Worse, however, are claims that Secret founder and Dota 2 team captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov verbally and physically threatened his teammates.

Former Secret player Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen corroborated EE's claims through a blog post (warning: NSFW language) of his own. Aliwi "w33" Omar said the following on Twitter after MiSeRy's post:

No one from Team Secret, either player or manager, has commented on EE's claims at this point.

While these sorts of controversies have been a fairly normal part of the news cycle in League of Legends, Dota 2 has largely managed to avoid any serious business conflicts between players and teams. It will be interesting to see if other players, both from Secret and elsewhere, come forward with similar stories.

Jungho Choi/Associated Press

Player Suspended During League World Championship

On Friday, Riot Games turned heads with an always-dreaded "Competitive Ruling" post about Han-Gil "Road" Yun of I May. His infraction? Violation of Rule 9.2.4 against "Discrimination and Denigration."

Here's what Riot detailed in their blog post:

"

On September 19, Hankil "Road" Yoon used racially insensitive language to abuse a player during a game on the Korean server...was found to have been verbally abusive toward his teammates in Ranked play going as far back as late August and as recently as a game on October 5.

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For this infraction, Road was fined $2,000 and suspended for one game of the Worlds group stages.

Riot did not detail what this "racially insensitive language" was, which is a bit of a misstep for a company that is historically quick to distribute harsh punishments. In its suspension of Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen in 2014 (who was punished for violating the same rule), Riot went into painstaking detail to describe what was done to draw a three-game ban but, by comparison, left a fair bit of mystery when it comes to Road's transgressions.

Taking into account that this ban directly impacted the Worlds, the biggest event of the year, suspending a player for something that remains unclear leaves the ruling feeling incomplete. A bit more transparency would have gone a long way here, especially since it seems neither Road nor I May had the chance to appeal Riot's decision.

Joe Raedle/Associated Press/Associated Press

Mark Cuban Shuts Down Idea of esports Investing

Esports is a booming business, and there is no better evidence of that than the number of major sports companies buying into it. That said, the feeling isn't unanimous across the industry. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban likes the idea of esports...but he doesn't want to get into it at this time. Speaking with Fusion's Ethan Chiel, Cuban discussed the current landscape of the industry and explained why he's not interested right now.

"I haven’t and won’t invest in teams," he said. "Right now it’s a gold rush to buy and sell and build teams. That’s creating a confused market."

Brian Babineau/Getty Images

That's most certainly true. Over a dozen different teams, including larger outfits like Team Liquid and Team Dignitas, have all been sold in recent months, creating something of a bubble in the industry that will almost certainly deflate in the coming months, if not pop outright. For potential investors that aren't specifically looking to get into the market, that's an unmistakable warning sign.

However, it isn't just the short-term questions about the price of teams that has Cuban feeling bearish on esports:

"

But more importantly, I’m worried about how quickly players burn out. It’s a grind to keep up and to become great. Particularly at LoL. I know teams are trying to do more, but the number of hours involved is a real concern for me. I’m not closing the door, but it’s not something I would pursue right now.

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For now, there's no shortage of NBA personalities and organizations throwing money around, from Jonas Jerebko to Rick Fox to the Philadelphia 76ers. That should be plenty!