Letter to the Editor:Dissin' the PGL...

TEN thinks we have a thing or two to learn about its Professional Gamer's League.

TEN writes:

"...and we're not even out the door yet! Man, you folks work fast! I just read your News article of October 20.

Here are some points I would make.

Yes, other tournaments are out there. Other tourneys will always exist. But will they deliver on a regular basis, ad infinitum, sizable rewards to the top 10 or more players in multiple games and game categories? Sure, those other tourneys will attract some, perhaps many, of the best players. But not on any permanent basis, like the PGL will. The PGL therefore also represents the best platform for the players from an endorsement opportunity standpoint. If a prospective sponsor or endorser of a player is interested, he is will want to know what the opportunity is for them. If a player can say, "Well, I'm ranked third in the action category in the PGL," that will carry a lot more weight than: "I recently won a local Quake tournament in Idaho." Because the PGL is an ongoing point of exposure for the sponsor of that particular player.

Julianne Gentile's comments are understandable, but clearly point out her lack of familiarity with pro sports, especially the kinds the PGL most closely resemble: tennis and golf. Baseball players do pay their dues: 98 percent of them toil away in the minor leagues, making $800 a month and taking 12-hour bus rides every night. Football players get the crap knocked out of 'em for eight years before they ever get to the pros; and when they retire, most of 'em can't walk very well. Tennis and golf pros all pay membership dues to belong to their respective pro organizations, and lemme tell ya, it ain't $200 a year, it's thousands.

I will take exception with your suggestion that the PGL is merely a marketing ploy for TEN; this misconception should be cleared up by the media alert we recently issued announcing that a TEN subscription is not required for participation in the PGL. The bottom line is that even if a TEN sub was required for participating in the PGL, it would be a small price for the best players to pay, given the payoff. But now, that's a moot point: $9.95 will provide anyone with admission to PGL participation for up to three months.

I also take exception to comments about spectation concerning online gaming. This sounds like someone who didn't watch Thresh duke it out on the E3 show floor for Carmack's Ferrari. Fact is, she wouldn't feel this way if she had all the broadcast mechanisms in place that the PGL has and will have. And again, this is understandable, since it doesn't really make sense to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into distributing and broadcasting the action and news from a single tournament; the PGL can justify these costs because over time, they'll be amortized, and over time, they'll attract more and larger sponsors to the PGL.

I hope this clarifies some points in the article. With the league still a couple of weeks from launching, much of the coverage is understandably based on speculation; I just hope that in future, once you've rounded up the speculation, you'll give TEN a timely opportunity to respond."

Garth ChouteauPGL press secretaryTotal Entertainment Network