As I observed Jason and the owners’ responses to our open letter, what struck me the most was that they didn’t really offer an explanation for everything that had happened. They certainly didn’t deny it. They mostly swept it under the rug and said, “Yeah, we could’ve communicated better.” With respect, what I would like to say about this is: Guys, I’m sorry, but you can’t just gloss over the discrepancy between what you said in September and what actually happened afterward by calling it a “miscommunication.” That’s a lot of spin — even for the esports industry — and I’m pointing this out not to be confrontational or reignite a debate that has already passed, but to remind everyone that the core issues of transparency, trust, and player representation still need to be addressed. They have not been fixed over the course of the last two weeks, and they will not be fixed overnight.

To their credit, after we released our open letter, the PEA and its team owners did concede that the choice between the PEA and EPL would be the players’ to make. We appreciate that, but on a deeper level, the team owners being able to determine the options from which the players can choose is a symptom of a larger problem. As I stated in one of my public comments, “Being able to ‘choose’ between two options that are not mutually exclusive is an illusion, not actual freedom of choice.” While the owners did concede the PEA/EPL decision to the players, they also made it very clear that they believe they “unambiguously have the contractual right to decide where their players compete.” Remember, until very recently, the players were not under the impression that the contracts they had signed gave their team owners the right to determine where they play. To the contrary, some of the owners had told their players directly that the players held the final say. The fact that the team owners believed the opposite was really the case is something we only found out as the PEA situation developed in November and December.

Over the past several weeks since we published our open letter, there has been a lot of community discussion on this subject. Some of you have made the point that it was unfair for the team owners to structure their players’ contracts the way they did — in a way that was potentially misleading. Some of you have also made the point that it is ultimately the players’ responsibility to research and understand their contracts before signing them. I understand both of these perspectives, and appreciate the passion all of you have shown in the arguments you have made. While I’ve mostly stayed quiet on this particular subject, I’d now like to share some thoughts of my own for you to consider.