ESL Louvre Agreement practice agreements changed
As part of the Louvre Agreement created in 2020 during the rise of the franchised leagues in BLAST, ESL, and the now defunct FLASHPOINT, there was talk of how North American partner teams needed to help ensure that the regional scene did not crater as the new league would obviously take opportunities away.
From what Dust2.us understands, as part of the agreement, teams were required to spend a specific amount of time in North America practicing against other North American teams in hopes of raising the quality of scrimmages and practice overall. Teams like Evil Geniuses, Complexity, Liquid, and FURIA were part of this and required to do such hours.
However, in a Reddit comment posted by Complexity CS:GO General Manager, Graham "messioso" Pitt, such practice agreements are no longer in force for this year.
The comment comes in response to a suggestion that Liquid had to fly back to the United States for the last week before ESL Pro League Season 17 instead of just staying in Europe to prepare at the best level.
As Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis explained, the team was back in North America as "People have families. People have girlfriends. People need time off. Sometime in the season that time comes and you just have to sacrifice it."
The topic of travel has also been brought up by the messioso when he detailed out the grueling schedule that Complexity have been a part of.
With the practice requirements for North American member teams moving away, it means that the rest of NA will lose an incredibly beneficial practice. It's unclear why this requirement was removed or if it will potentially comeback, but it will surely be missed by the amateur teams that likely benefited for such an incentive.
