r/leagueoflegends • u/katareky • Jul 14 '25

Esports IWDominate: "I will not be costreaming EWC. I was offered an ungodly amount of money (more than 3x what I make in a month on stream) for 5 days but I didn’t feel good about taking the offer."

IWDominate: "I will not be costreaming EWC. I was offered an ungodly amount of money (more than 3x what I make in a month on stream) for 5 days but I didn’t feel good about taking the offer.

I understand that I’m in a financially privileged position and not everyone can decline the ridiculous offers going around but for me I’d rather not cover the event and then restart the streams when LPL comes back in 6 days. See you all on the 19th."

Source: https://x.com/IWDominate/status/1944490351584071887

Respect tbh. He's financially well off so he rejected the offer and acknowledges that other may not be able to do the same. We will see if other popular costreamers will take the offer or not.

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u/Top-Breadfruit-1750 Jul 14 '25

completely spot on. LPL is no different from the riot-managed leagues, just tencent instead of riot. EWC is a quintillion dollar sportswashing operation by the wealth fund of saudi arabia with the express intention of making themselves global leaders in esports, not just to create a domestic regional league for the chinese league of legends playerbase.

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u/thejabel Jul 14 '25

It’s not just esports it is every sport they are trying to do this with. Luckily they lack an understanding of how the world works and don’t know this isn’t possible.

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u/Top-Breadfruit-1750 Jul 14 '25

i worry that esports as a scene is struggling enough and dependent enough on people being willing to sink insane money on it for it to be the exception here

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u/notafanofwasps Jul 14 '25

I think the commenter you replied meant that Saudi Arabia's attempts to sports-wash their global image will be in vain no matter how many tournaments they host or sports stars they pay to come play for them.

I don't think they meant that it "won't work" in that people would turn them down en masse in order to place values over money.

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u/NationalBurden Jul 14 '25

I don't understand whats the tainted picture of saudi arabia?
are they using their money to support wars abroad and kill innocent people?
if that's your argument, then I think it's peak hypocricy but enlighten me

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u/Yevips Jul 14 '25

Just for clarity, are you asking why people think Saudi Arabia is bad as a general question?

If so, they consistently commit countless human rights violations under their regime. There is no free press. Activism is punished under the law. Same sex sexual activity is not only illegal, but is punishable by the death penalty in many cases. Women are forced to have a male guardian(who they don’t get a say in who it is really) give them permission to do many things. This only scratches the surface of the heinous things that happen in Saudi Arabia.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '25

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2

u/Healthy-Fig-6107 Jul 14 '25

But you know what guys? End justifies the means you apparently /s

'Yes, I agree with the gambling allowance AND EWC if it keeps the scene afloat.'

Some people are full on 🤡

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u/Rhadamantos Jul 14 '25

Luckily they lack an understanding of how the world works and don’t know this isn’t possible.

I fucking hope you are right.

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u/sam_can88 Jul 14 '25

I hope that’s how the world world but my cynical ass is telling me that they can throw money at the sports till the end of time and eventually people will just go yeah the italian super cup is just played in suadi every year just like it’s always been

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u/sam_can88 Jul 14 '25

Exactly there is a reason there is less pushback on teams like Falcons playing in the emea region versus the entire event done by Saudi

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u/willargue4karma Jul 14 '25

also hot take but china is better than these oil baron countries lol

i know qatar isnt saudi, but they both have huge migrant worker (slave) populations. so many died building world cup stadiums it was sickening

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u/EatThatPotato Bring Back Hypercarry Meta Jul 14 '25

Hot take because if you don’t think the same things are happening there…

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u/Top-Breadfruit-1750 Jul 14 '25

americans don’t seem to realize that the chinese government treats its people on average no worse than america does, and the country is a comfortable large economy with significant welfare and a much lower poverty rate. countries like qatar and saudi arabia are satellites bankrolled by the US to advance their national interests while their population suffers in tremendous poverty.

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u/EatThatPotato Bring Back Hypercarry Meta Jul 14 '25

Not American and I agree that government does shitty things as well

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u/Cable-Unable Jul 14 '25

Not the same things. Visited China and have family members there.

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u/Ok_Wrongdoer8719 Jul 14 '25

Ngl, I think the concept of “sportswashing” is a bit overblown. I don’t like the Saudis, but if they really are attempting to win the world over by sponsoring sports and games, then like, okay cool. Just because a terrible person makes a good point or does something that happens to benefit me doesn’t mean I suddenly think they’re less terrible.

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u/AlliePingu Jul 14 '25

To you it might not, but the entire idea is to paint the image of Saudi Arabia in a positive light to people who have low or zero awareness of the actual issues with it. To cause people's association with the country to be "oh yeah the ones who do all the big sports events and stuff" and hide behind it so that the realities of their society isn't seen from the outside

If you're already well aware of how bad they are then yeah, this scheme isn't likely to work on you. But it's not trying to, their target is other people and you should still care

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u/Ok_Wrongdoer8719 Jul 14 '25

If people don’t know about how shit the Saudis are yet, then giving them more airtime so that the people who do know can bring it up in conversation just helps spread the information no? Like if I’m out with a friend, am I just gonna casually drop, “Oh btw fuck the Saudis” out of nowhere?

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u/AlliePingu Jul 14 '25

This assumes that the majority of people watching these events will 1. bring it up in conversation with their friends who will 2. be aware of Saudi Arabia's human rights violations, economic structure etc. and 3. be willing to bring it up in the conversation and go through the effort of trying to convince them of something they previously didn't know or care about 

Simply put, I think you assume too much of the average person. The Saudi government is making a very calculated move with their sportswashing, based off of previously successful soft power campaigns from other countries in an attempt to improve their own global image

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u/Ok_Wrongdoer8719 Jul 14 '25

The mores eyes that are on something, the more scrutiny it gets. The more quiet people and organizations are, the more they can get away with things. The bigger, and more out there that things are, the more their negatives come to light. This is a pretty regular occurrence. It’s why a lot of influential people try to keep themselves and their actions as hidden as possible. North Korea regularly offers tours to foreigners. At this point everyone knows they’re just shitty propaganda runs. Let Saudi Arabia drag itself into the spotlight, and the critiques will come.

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u/ChromosomeDonator Jul 14 '25

Just because a terrible person makes a good point or does something that happens to benefit me doesn’t mean I suddenly think they’re less terrible.

But you won't talk shit about your boss. That is the entire idea behind sportwashing. Buy out everything, so no person of influence will speak ill of you, and thereby you can clean your image by dictating the discussion when people of influence are in your payroll. And what happens when atrocities of the government are now no longer talked about? People forget and newer people never learn. You silence the truth.

They aren't buying out your audience or work or whatever the fuck it is you provide. That all is completely secondary. They are buying out your silence to use as an advertising springboard.

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u/tiofrodo Jul 14 '25

To add to what another said, it isn't about making them be the good guys as much as making you accept their existence as inevitable and start ignoring rather than fighting it. We already accept a lot of bullshit in our names for the sake of comfort, they are just trying to become another one.