ELEAGUE Playoffs Come Amid Controversy over Disqualification of Two Teams

As ELEAGUE's inaugural season enters its playoff stage, the league, its teams and its players have been sorting through a unique situation involving the replacement of two of its top teams.

SK Gaming and Luminosity were removed from competing over the remainder of the first season of ELEAGUE, a professional eSports organization founded by Turner and WME|IMG, after making roster changes that were in violation of league rules.  

Luminosity’s entire roster was acquired midseason to compete as members of SK Gaming, leaving Luminosity without a roster and SK Gaming with an entire team of new players.  The players formerly competing as members of SK Gaming were left without a team and ended up forming a unit currently going by the name Team X.  According to ELEAGUE, its agreements are directly associated with the teams and not with the players themselves.  

ELEAGUE released a statement on the matter:

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Due to roster changes that do not comply with ELEAGUE rules, we regret to announce that Luminosity and SK Gaming are no longer eligible to compete in the remainder of season one. Cloud9 will assume Luminosity's playoff position and Renegades will replace Cloud9 in the Last Chance Qualifier. Gambit will fill SK Gaming's spot in the LCQ round. In each of these cases, Cloud9, Renegades and Gambit earned their positions as the next highest-ranking teams among the respective field.

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According to a report by Jacob Wolf of ESPN.com, ELEAGUE's resolution was influenced by a letter from several team owners expressing concern over how the Luminosity/SK Gaming situation was handled. However, according to ELEAGUE its decision to replace Luminosity and SK Gaming was made prior to the receipt of this letter. 

An ELEAGUE representative told Bleacher Report that a wide number of scenarios were fully vetted, especially given the unique set of circumstances. These scenarios included the midseason replacement of entire team rosters, to allow both SK Gaming and Luminosity to continue playing. Ultimately, ELEAGUE said it decided to honor the rules that were put in place prior to the start of the season to protect the integrity of the league and to create an equal playing field for all teams.

As noted by Josh Raven of The Daily Dot, controversy between SK and Luminosity is not new. When news surfaced of the move by SK to acquire players in the Brazilian branch of Luminosity, highlighted by Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, it shook up the gaming community. Toledo and most of the former Luminosity team wound up unhappy with the terms of the agreement and tried to breach the contract, with the captain telling Wolf:

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SK was pushing us to sign a contract with them when we were not comfortable with the whole situation. That happened three days before the major. At that time, all we wanted is to be clear of those organizations 'problems' and focus on winning the major. After achieving that, we discussed internally and with lawyers about the situation. We also realized that we wanted to stay, building the history we have been building this entire year with LG. We have been growing so fast lately, both team and organization, and we feel proud to be part of it. That's why we wanted to stay where we feel comfortable.

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The players eventually relented and joined SK, beginning July 1. SK then released members of its own team, which was eliminated before the playoffs began. The former members of SK now make up the aforementioned Team X.

While Luminosity and SK competed in the group-play round of ELEAGUE, they were replaced once the transfers became official. 

Last-chance qualifying matches for the ELEAGUE playoffs are taking place this week, with the playoffs beginning next week and the semifinals and championship held July 29-30.  

Editor's Note: Turner Broadcasting is Bleacher Report's parent company.