woo

Got an email overnight from the DH sales guy, here's the long and short of it:

"Basically we will need to find sponsorship/s for: EUR 45.300

...

Thinking this will be very hard to reach for a TF2 set up taking in where we are only 2 months before DHW12 leave us a limited time to solve the total price for activation."

So DH Winter is unlikely. Think we're focusing on next summer, which is a long time from now :(

eur 43k to get what, exactly? I could host a LAN in Chicago for that much, a really nice one.

Dreamhack is pretty much the biggest LAN in the whole world though, lots of exposure that would appeal to sponsors there if people got real into it as far as spectating/viewers there goes, I'm sure someone could host a real nice LAN here for roughly the same cost, but it prolly wouldn't have those kinds of benefits.

He has an itemized list. I don't know if he'd want us to share it, but it includes computers for 48 players, floor space at DH, setting up a booth for the casting, administration (which we could pay a similar amount and maybe get Tapley there instead), event pass, and a 10,000 Euro prize purse.

It sounds reasonable to me, although I've never done anything like this before. Nevertheless, DH Summer 2013 is probably the way to go.

edit: I'm optimistic that the sponsors will be able to get us there by Summer. Winter's too short of a turnaround.

who wants to be a cold gamer anyway

Yeah, I gotcha... I just wonder why we, as NA TF2 players, keep sinking so much time and effort into getting to European events (at great expense to the players and sponsors) - at what point do we stop seeing a return on our investments? Have we seen one at all? Near as I can tell, NA TF2 (at least invite) has fallen apart since i46 - the opposite effect I think we all expected. Granted, competitive TF2 in general has grown, but it seems like the top-tier has become slightly complacent over here.

Nothing against the effort, I think our primary goal as casters, supporters, etc. still needs to be facilitating general growth of the game competitively - but it seems like a case of massively diminishing returns when we're not putting that money and sponsorships towards establishing a North American LAN event that rivals i-series and Dreamhack. It seems, to me at least, that we're helping international TF2 grow far more than we're supporting things here at home.

MLG and IPL, the North American equivalents of Dreamhack, aren't terribly interested in TF2. They'd probably cost even more for a TF2 tournament than Dreamhack would. Not that I'm not trying to get some kind of deal with IPL - I am - but for now that will be online-only.

Sal what kind of stuff can we do to help out in getting tf2 at DH summer?

The general rule in business is to start local and work your way out. An ExTV LAN in the states would likely be a better bet. Basically, stop thinking of getting large major sponsors and get some local ones, like minor gift fundraising, then branch off to better events.

PS- I am pretty sure that I have some non-propriety how to minor gift fund-raise, and if people are really interested I might be able to lend some ones that are propriety if said person signs a NDA.

Cbear asked me that on stream last night, too, and I haven't figured out anything specific yet. Continuing to stream TF2 and build strong personal brands/reputations is extremely important. It's the individual personalities that hook people on the sport. Continually growing viewer numbers for TF2 is right there alongside it, as is bringing in more competitive players. Keep doing Newbie Mixes and demo reviews and all that.

Anyone who has contacts at sponsor organizations (hardware manufacturers, Monster energy, etc) should poke them and see if they'd be willing to chip in. Try to copy me on those communications if possible.

The absolute biggest hurdle to getting TF2 at major LANs is money. TF2 is competing for floor space with other games, so sponsors have to be able to pay for us in favor of them. Sponsors will want to see the potential for viewership growth and engagement (in lieu of already having a massive market they can reach out to). So that's food for thought.

We do look at local LANs. ETS is one that eXtv wants to run a TF2 tournament at, as well as Quakecon.

A bunch of us are planning on heading to FITES in February, as well.

What kind of money are Valve willing to contribute to get TF2 at DH?

$0.00

That wasn't the case with the last DH effort.

http://www.vanillatf2.org/2011/04/tf2-dreamhack-summer-2011/

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The trouble with arranging DHS instead of DHW is that it is no longer the antinode of the main TF2 event for spectators, ie the summer Insomnia LAN. While that isn't an issue for whichever 8 teams get paid to attend, it'll be of concern to people wanting to spectate.

Valve was in Europe at Gamescom around the time, though, pushing DOTA2 hard. That's when they announced the first International, I believe.

Maybe we should all E-mail the hell out of Valve, show them that we really want this. If enough of us show our support, maybe they'd be willing to contribute.

I wouldn't recommend trying that right now. Once DHW is over, around November-December time frame, we'll be looking to secure some sponsorship money for the Summer LAN. At that point is when we'd want to see if Valve will reconsider sponsoring a TF2 event, or at least pitching in for the prize pot.

C u @ LAN

Did Robin ever "officially" contribute to i46? Or was that just a rumor that was floating around that he donated... understand if you can't comment publicly, and if you can't just say it was a rumor.

Would not work they have stated that they will not be putting sponsor cash into events that are not run and managed by them, so the only thing that is getting valve money is the international :(

Duder, that's a question for eXtine.

Is there some official site that shows how much money TF2 makes in a year?

Dreamhack is THE event to get TF2 exposure. I would 100% help and endorse it just as much if it was a LAN in the US, but it's not because it's EU, it's because it's Dreamhack.

TF2 is getting crazy big. Even by esports standards. While our viewership isn't that impressive compared to SC2, LoL, or Dota 2, is stonkingly massive compared to everything else in esports. If we could pull 10k+ for Dreamhack (which honestly 6 months from now and with a little advertising help from Dreamhack is probably quite conservative), it will be completely renew interest in the game from sponsors and leagues.

We aren't going to do a community fundraiser. If this happens, it'll be through sponsors. If you guys over on that side of the pond want to try and do a fundraiser or help out getting a team over, I personally and Vanilla will support it 100%, but right now I think we're going to struggle to get the top euro teams (other than Epsilon) as it is.

Myself and Sal will ofc be reading this thread. If you guys have any questions or suggestions, just post them here and I promise they'll be seen.

Networking for sponsors is the only way to make TF2 big.

A necessary but not sufficient step.