Oliver Bass@BassFromThePast
Sadly, at no point in the process of my potential return as talent do I believe that CSMG handled things correctly or professionally. Here is the timeline from my perspective:
-Post CECC 2025, payment issues arise, forcing talent to demand payments or deal with the legal consequences of breached contracts.
-Payment issues are solved with CSMG promising not to have this problem in the future.
-The cycle restarts, CSMG reaches out to me and other talent to help with preliminary work like seeding for qualifiers, as I have done for them every year in the past.
-CSMG then posts an announcement, "Looking for student talent", blindsiding me and all other talent.
-I asked for clarification on the post and am told definitively that student talent would not be replacing industry talent and "official talent positions" would still remain.
-Time passes, qualifiers continue, and eventually, I am given an offer for CECC 2026.
-In said offer, rates do not change, but additional work is asked for, and no late fee or guarantees of timely payments are included. I ask for clarification and am put into a group DM with the talent manager to ask questions.
-After almost a week without response, I get a meeting with the talent manager for CECC 2026, only to have my meeting cancelled 2 hours later, citing "internal adjustments to our planning".
-Over 2 weeks pass by without any update. I ask multiple times for clarifications or updates, without any given.
-Finally, my offer is officially rescinded, over a month after the initial offer was made. The primary reason cited is "to focus primarily on providing work opportunities for collegiate students", something I asked about at the very beginning of this process almost 2 months prior, and was assured would not happen.
I am devastated to not return to CECC, as I have worked at every single CECC since 2022. This event is one of the most important and prestigious LANs in collegiate esports, and the honor of working on it yearly is not lost on me. So, to be so uncemoniously left off the roster of talent this year is painful beyond words. CSMG and the CECC staff showed almost no professionalism throughout this process. Again, to say I am disappointed and frustrated is an understatement; I am appalled by how this entire process was handled.
